Salvation
by IWillBelieveIt
Summary: With Zoe now anything but herself Dan and the other scramble frantically to keep Zoe from killing as many people as possible whilst trying to come up with a plan to restore Zoe's humanity. But the Hunters, furious with lives that Zoe's already taken, are closing in and are hell-bent on destroying everyone that Zoe cares about.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Here's what I know you've all been waiting for - _Salvation! _Yay! This chapter's kind of average, but this story as a whole _does _get better. I promise.**

* * *

Almost numbly, Zoe stared at the body at her feet. It was a boy, roughly seventeen, and he was attractive in that boyish kid-next-door kind of way. He had brown hair that lay across his forehead and when they were open, his eyes were a bright blue. He had a lean build, but all his good looks were deterred by the ripped state of his clothing, and the blood that was mostly on the side of his neck, but she could see a handprint of blood that matched the shape of her own hand on his side – long fingers, curling around his waist. Even now, she smiled, just remembering the taste of his blood.

"What did you do, Zoe?"

Sighing, Zoe turned around, giving the boy behind her a bored look. At least, he looked like a boy. He looked to be about seventeen, the same age as the boy she'd just killed, only they both knew that he had the ability to live indefinitely, to live for as long as he wanted, until a wooden stake found its way into his chest. Smirking, Zoe brushed her red hair out of her face – the ends dyed a slightly darker red from the dead boy's blood – and cocked her head to the side at the blonde-haired boy, whose eyes were almost black instead of their usual blue. "I was told that this would be fun."

"I can't imagine who would have told you that," the boy replied.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Who do you think told me that, Dan?"

Dan shrugged casually, although he kept his eyes trained on her. He knew she was dangerous. No matter what she meant to him, she was dangerous. "William, I'm guessing."

"Someone's decided to use their brain today," Zoe said, her lips curving in cruel amusement.

"Zoe, come back with me. Let me fix this."

"By 'fix this', do you mean let the Sorceress keep locked up some bubble I can't see while you figure out how to turn me into a wimp who can barely look at her own shadow without crying?" Zoe shouted. She took a step towards him, and when she spoke, her voice was lower, softer, quieter than before, somehow more malicious. "You wanted William dead, Dan. You knew what the consequences were when you made that choice. I guess now you have to live with that choice."

"No!" Dan shouted, and before Zoe could even blink, he'd grabbed her arm and twisted her around, pinning her to the nearest tree with his body. With one hand, he brushed her hair away from the back of her neck, his mouth against her ear. "You need to stop this, Zo."

Abruptly, Zoe turned in his arms so that her back was pressed against the tree. She gave him a lazy, easy smile. "You can't seriously be saying you don't prefer me like this."

As if she had some kind of power of him, Dan looked down at what she was wearing. Her dress was black and the front it stopped halfway down her thighs, while the back of it brushed against her lower calves. It had a low neckline and it hugged the body she'd gotten when she was Turned in all the right places – taking advantage of her bigger chest and wider hips. The palms of her hands were painted red with blood, as were her lips, which had trail of blood running down her chin. The sight of her set something loose inside him, not unlike the Thirst, but still entirely different, something still primal and animalistic, although this urge didn't thirst for blood.

As if she could sense his trail of thought, Zoe bit her lip and smiled, cocking her head to the side. He could smell blood on her, thick and sweet and radiating with life and power, just like the way she had when she was alive.

With hands that trembled, both from the memory of her alive and the smell of human blood, Dan ghosted his hands up her sides, his skin barely grazing against her. Then, before he could think about it, he had pulled her to him and kissed her roughly.

He was immediately greeted with the taste of human blood, and it was so sweet, and it had been so long since he'd tasted it, that he sucked her bottom lip into his mouth as her hands ghosted up his arms. Dan's mouth left hers and he found his way down her throat, his hand gripping her hips, holding her to him. Zoe smirked into his hair and slid her hands up his arms until they found his neck, and then slid higher, so that she held his face in her hands, not all that different from the way William had held her face as he'd held her when she was still human, fear radiating off her in waves, much like the sun did with heat. Dan had about a second's worth of breathing room, which he used to tense, his hands stilling from where they'd been moving up her back, before she twisted his head to the side abruptly.

Zoe smiled as she heard the sound of bones breaking cleanly before Dan dropped to the floor, his golden eyelashes light against his cheek. Sighing, Zoe wiped the blood from the side of her neck, looking over her shoulder at the dead human boy she'd killed. She thought she saw him breathing and she listened, tilting her head to the side.

The boy, as if on some unknown cue, rolled onto his side and groaned, his hand rising to the side of his neck. This kid just didn't want to die.

Smiling, Zoe knelt down in front of him as he struggled to sit up, his eyes catching her own. "What happened? Who are you?"

"I'm a friend," Zoe said. "It's alright. An animal attacked you."

Just as the boy sighed in relief, Zoe slammed her hand down on his leg. She heard the sound of bones cracking again and she bit into his neck, drinking hungrily. As she drank until she couldn't hear his heartbeat anymore, she wondered how she ever could have thought that she could ever sustain herself on anything but human blood.


	2. Chapter 2

"Dan!"

Dan opened his eyes and groaned, pulling himself up. Sky was standing over him, her brown eyes worried, with Ezekiel standing beside her. A few metres away, Aneisha and Tom were standing over the boy Dan knew Zoe had killed – he remembered the smell that had come off her. It was the same as the smell that was coming off the kid now, although the smell was distorted by the revolting scent of decay.

"Did you do that?" Ezekiel asked, gesturing to the boy.

Dan shook his head. "That was Zoe. The kid was already dead when I got here."

Aneisha sighed quietly, kneeling down beside the boy. As Dan watched, she reached into the pocket of the boy's jeans and pulled out a small plastic card that somewhat resembled a credit card. She stared at it for a long time and then passed it up to Tom, massaging her forehead with her hand.

"What's that?" Sky asked.

"Student ID," Tom replied. "He went to St Heart's. Caiden Albright."

"Oh God," Dan breathed, putting his head in his hands.

"Who is he?" Sky asked.

"The brother of a girl who was . . . incredibly bitchy towards Zoe when she was human." Aneisha replied.

"When she was human?" Sky asked, glancing between Dan and Aneisha. "Why only when she was human?"

"Because since Zoe was Turned, Melissa's been terrified of her for some reason," Aneisha replied.

"Has she shown up in the past week, since she lost her humanity?" Sky asked.

"No. But she will." Dan said gravelly, brushing himself down as he stood.

"Why?"

"There's a pattern to everyone she's killing. She's killing people related to people who hurt her. She killed the guy who was her supervisor at SKUL. Then Melissa's niece. Now her brother. It's no coincidence."

"Since when did she killed the supervisor guy?" Sky asked.

"We worked it out yesterday," Aneisha replied.

"Why'd she kill him?"

"Why do you think? She's gone crazy and he was in SKUL. I thought it was obvious," Dan snapped.

"Dan," Ezekiel said, folding his arms over his chest.

"What?" Dan snapped, turning to face him. "You're not my father, you can't – "

"No, I'm not," Ezekiel growled back. "Because your father was a psychotic bastard and you – "

Abruptly, an invisible force threw them both apart, Ezekiel slamming into a tree on one side of the clearing and Dan slamming into one on the other side. Aneisha, her eyes so dark with fury that they appeared black, stepped forward, her arms outstretched. Dan groaned and tried to move, but Aneisha kept him pinned.

"Now stop!" Aneisha shouted, the wind that tangled her long dark hair helping to carry her voice. "Zoe is going around, killing everyone who ever pissed her off, and you two are arguing. This stops _now_. We need to work out where Zoe's going to go next, and who she's going to go after."

"Then let me go," Dan muttered, glaring.

Aneisha glared back, but she released him and the teenage vampire tumbled to the floor, glaring at the Sorceress as he got to his feet.

* * *

Zoe felt herself grin as she dipped her head back to look up at the house. She could smell the unmistakable stench of werewolf – fleas – mixed with the sweet smell of human blood. She'd consumed more human blood in the past week than her newly vampire body was used to, and she revelled in it. Her senses were sharper and she was stronger than before. A new trick had emerged – when she snapped Dan's neck, she hadn't kissed him. Since she'd been consuming human blood, she'd developed the ability to get into people's heads – human, vampire, werewolf, it didn't matter – and make them experience whatever she wanted them to.

Zoe stretched her senses out and listened. She could hear two hearts beating, one beating at the slightly faster pace of a werewolf. Inside, she could faintly hear Matt and Logan talking. Still listening, she moved around so that she was underneath the balcony.

"_. . . heard from Dan?" _Logan was asking.

"_Nope. Probably won't ever hear from him. I did get his girlfriend turned into a vampire." _Matt replied.

"_That . . . That wasn't your fault. William compelled you to do it," _Logan said. His voice was quiet and Zoe heard the sound of skin brushing against skin, as if he'd put his hand on Matt's cheek.

"_Yeah, I guess," _Matt muttered. Zoe heard him get up. _"I'm going to go get some food. I have a craving for chocolate. You want anything?"_

"_I'm good," _Logan said.

"_I'll be back soon, okay?"_

"_Yeah,_" and then Zoe could hear Matt walking down the stairs and his car pulled out of the driveway, racing down the street. Zoe jumped up and grabbed the bottom of the balcony and swung herself up onto it, landing on the other side of the railing with easy grace. Making her expression soft, innocent and scared, she turned towards the door and knocked, peering through the curtains. She saw Logan look up and rise to his feet, moving towards the door. He opened the door and peered out at her, brushing his dark hair out of his eyes. "Zoe? What's wrong? Are you alright?"

"Dan's after me," Zoe said, her voice small. "They killed William and Sky's put it in their heads that I'm not me and they want me dead and I can't . . . I don't know what to do."

"Hey, it's alright," Logan said, looking uncomfortable and unfamiliar with crying female vampires. "Come on, get in here."

Zoe moved inside the bedroom and then turned to him. Her eyes didn't look sad and scared anymore, but they looked black, a similar colour to the dark veins spidering up the back of her neck and out from her temples.

"Zoe . . . ?" Logan said, taking a step back, his eyes flickering quickly for an escape. Smirking, Zoe's hands shot out and grasped the human boy towards her, biting into the side of his neck.


	3. Chapter 3

Dan sat down on the couch, brushing his hand across his mouth and jaw. He leaned his head on his hands and closed his eyes, sighing softly as Sky sat beside him.

"Don't you have any idea where Zoe would go?" Sky asked.

Dan shook his head. "No, I . . ." he trailed off, his eyes flying wide and looking around frantically.

"Dan?" Ezekiel asked, leaning forward. "What is it?"

"Zoe," Dan said. "I think I know. And it's not good."

Aneisha stared at him. "You're not serious. Even . . . Even now, even like this . . . she wouldn't."

"She's not our Zoe, Neish," Tom said quietly. "We don't know what she's capable of anymore."

"Anything," Ezekiel said. "She's capable of anything."

"So where do you think she's going?" Sky asked. "Who do you think she's going to kill?"

Dan leaned forward. He raked his hands and looked around at his friends. He looked down at his hands, frowning at them. He could have sworn that his hands had brushed Zoe's neck while he'd been kissing her, that he'd gotten his palms covered in the blood that had been drying on her neck.

"Dan?" Sky asked, frowning at him. "Are you alright?"

"I, uh, yeah . . . I just . . . you know what, don't worry about it."

Abruptly, Sky's hand gripped the hair at the back of her brother's neck, fisting her hand in the thick golden strands. Dan grunted in pain and turned to face his sister, wincing as she twisted his hair. He could feel her studying him, her brown eyes narrowing.

"What did you do, Daniel?"

"Nothing," Dan said evasively, looking away. Abruptly Sky pushed him off the couch and as Dan rolled onto his back, he saw Sky standing over him, her eyes so dark with fury that they appeared black.

"Sky – " Aneisha said, her tone sharp.

"What did you do, Dan?" Sky asked. "You were there with Zoe. Why didn't you just snap her neck? You _know _she's not human anymore. Why didn't you?"

"You kissed her," Ezekiel said. Dan twisted his head around to look at him and Ezekiel groaned. "She is going around, killing anyone and everyone as she pleases, and you're more worried about how far you can stick your tongue down her throat!"

"Except I didn't," Dan said. "Look, Zoe had blood all over her neck. I _remember _running my hands across her neck. If we kissed, _where the hell _is the blood that's supposed to be on my hands?"

"That's a good metaphor," Tom muttered.

Dan glared at him. "Don't even start, Tupper. I know that people are going to die because of me. Don't even start."

"It's like she could get into your head make you see whatever she wanted you to," Ezekiel said quietly.

"Like I did with you and Zoe," Aneisha added. "When I made you hallucinate – "

"What our future would be if we were human," Dan said softly, giving her a small, sad smile. "Don't worry, Neish. I haven't forgotten."

"I didn't think you would've," Aneisha replied.

Sky raked her fingers through her hair. "But that's not possible. Only dhampirs can do that kind of thing and in case you haven't noticed, Zoe's not a dhampir. She wasn't born, she was _bitten _– "

"You think I don't know that?" Dan snapped. He turned away from his sister and groaned softly, standing up as he joined his hands behind the back of his neck. He closed his eyes and dipped his head back. When he opened his eyes, he stared up at the ceiling. "I don't know what to do. She's going around killing people, but this _isn't her_. As soon as she becomes herself again, if she ever does, it's going to destroy her."

Aneisha's expression was soft. "We don't know that, Dan. Zoe's strong."

Dan turned to look at her, huddled on the floor beside Tom. "We don't know that she'll be able to cope, either."

Aneisha pressed her lips together, shaking her head as her eyes filled with tears. "So we have to stop her. Find her and . . . restore her, I guess. How do we do that?"

Dan shook his head. "I don't know. I don't know, Neish."

"I do," Sky said quietly. She looked taken aback for a moment as everyone in the room turned to look at her, but then her expression hardened and she said, "I had it done to me once. And I've had to do it before."

"How do we do it?" Tom asked. "How do we get her back?"

"Two ways," Sky said. "We can either bombard her with emotions and memories."

"Or?" Ezekiel asked, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the doorframe. "What's the other way?"

Sky looked like she wanted to be anywhere else. "We torture her until she inavertedly shifts back into herself."

"What the hell is – " Aneisha started.

"No." Dan interrupted, his blue eyes cold. Immediately, every head in the room turned to face the Offspring vampire as he stood, his hands by his side, his expression murderous. "We're not torturing her."

Sky lifted one shoulder in a helpless shrug. "We might not have another choice, Dan."

"Well, we can try the first way before we even consider torturing her, okay?" Aneisha asked.

"Well, we need to find her first," Sky said. "We need to find her and capture her."

"Capture her?" Dan asked. "We can't – "

"Dan," Ezekiel said. "She's a new vampire who has lost any hold she has on herself. She had the most _awful _upbringing I've ever known in my entire life and she's now going after anyone who's ever wronged her. I don't think there's anything more dangerous on this earth."

"We have to do this, Dan," Sky said quietly. "She's more dangerous than William right now. You must know that. You _have _to know that."

Dan nodded. "Yeah, she is. At least our father had some semblance of a conscience. Okay, let's do it. Let's get her."

"So where do I fit on that scale? How close to William is a vengeful werewolf?"


	4. Chapter 4

Abruptly Dan turned towards the voice, frowning. Beside him, Sky rose to her feet and with a growl, Tom transformed into a large wolf with dark brown, almost black fur. Tom moved to stand beside Dan, each movement slow and deliberate, growling lowly with his haunches raised.

Across the room, Matt's eyes flashed silver, illuminating the tears in his eyes.

"Matt," Aneisha said quietly, rising to her feet. Tom's animal eyes glanced across at her as she moved to stand beside him, her fingertips brushing the fur covering his back.

"Where's Zoe?" Matt asked, and his voice was filled with a darkness that Dan had never heard before in the werewolf. There was something in his eyes, something dark and unhinged, as if he'd suddenly found himself alone in the universe, without everyone and anyone who mattered to him.

"We don't – " Ezekiel started.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Matt bellowed, his face filling with a fury so dark it rivalled with William himself.

"We don't know!" Dan shouted back at him. "We don't know where she is!" Tom bared his teeth at the hysterical werewolf, putting himself between Aneisha and the werewolf still in human form.

"Matthew," Sky said quietly, her brown eyes wide as she stared at him. "Where's Logan? Why isn't he with you?"

Aneisha gasped softly and brushed her hand across the top of Tom's head, placing her hand across his snout. Tom stopped growling and twisted his head to look at her, his eyes so intelligent that she would have known, just by looking at him, that he was no ordinary wolf. Reluctantly, Tom sat back on his haunches, whining softly.

Instead of answering, Matt launched himself at Dan, knocking the vampire to the ground. He threw a punch and Dan blocked, driving his knee up into Matt's stomach. He noticed, immediately, that he was fighting like a human, instead of like a werewolf. He wasn't Turning.

"Your little bitch," Matt hissed through his teeth, managing to land a punch on the side of Dan's face. "Your little bitch murdered him in cold blood."

"You led her to William _in cold blood_," Dan spat back. "It's your own fault that she killed him, you dumb idiot."

Dan heard loud snarling above him, and then there was a set of large canines snapping at his face. He pushed Matt back and then the hysterical teenage boy was being pulled back. Dan stared, gasping, as Tom, growling around Matt's leg, dragged his sire backwards across the floor. Angrily, Matt turned and slashed at Tom's nose with his claws, which had grown out of his fingers.

Tom whined and let go. Matt twisted, turning to face him as his human form turned into the body of a large wolf, slightly bigger than Tom, with chocolate brown-coloured fur. He lunged forward and bit the side of Tom's neck, growling furiously.

"Leave him alone!" Aneisha cried, throwing her arms out. Matt was thrown back against the far wall and he whimpered, changing back into a human being as he fell to the floor. Across the room, Tom, who was human again, groaned and put a hand to his bloody neck.

"Tom!" Aneisha cried, collapsing beside him.

"I'm alright," Tom said quietly. "I'm alright. I'm healing. See?" He took his now bloody palm away from his bloody neck so that the Sorceress could see his skin knitting together and healing until there was only a smeared patch of crimson blood on the side of his neck and on his palm as proof that he'd been injured at all.

Dan got to his feet and walked towards Matt. His anger had faded, leaving only a weak, dead look in his eyes that Dan had seen before, but only in vampires, in very very old vampires. Slowly, he knelt down in front of Matt, his blue eyes gentle. Slowly, Matt raised his eyes to look up at him.

"Matt, what happened?" Dan asked quietly.

"What happened to Zoe?" Matt asked, dodging the question. "This isn't her."

"You don't know her," Dan said. "And I asked first."

"So much blood," Sky said, from behind him, before Matt could answer. "There's so much blood, everywhere. It's on the walls, on ceiling, on the floor. And there's Logan, just lying on the middle of it all and he's staring at me, just dead. He shouldn't be dead like this. He's human. He can't just be _dead, _but I can't hear his heartbeat. Oh, God, why isn't his heart beating - "

"Sky," Dan said, getting to his feet and putting his hands on her shoulder. "Sky, what is it? What can you see?"

"She killed him," Matt said, his voice flat and dead, as if he was just a walking corpse, reanimated by some primal instinct to survive, even when he had nothing left to live for. Dan turned to look at him, ignoring Aneisha as she covered her mouth with her hand and pressed her face into Tom's shoulder, and Ezekiel as he looked down, massaging the bridge of his nose with his thumb and his forefinger.

Matt's hands, shaking with grief and inner pain, brushed over his eyes, wiping away his tears. "So what's happened to her? I don't know Zoe very well, but I do know she's not like this. So what happened to her?"

"We killed William," Dan said, quietly, rocking back on his heels. "We killed William and it changed her. She's not herself anymore. She's lost everything that makes her _Zoe."_

Matt glanced between all of them and took a deep breath, looking down. "What can I do to help?"

"Matt – "

"It's my fault she's like this," Matt said. "I've been working against compulsion. Vampires can't control me anymore. I have to help her. You don't get it. I _have _to."

Dan nodded. "We need to find her. Do you think you could pull out that anger again?"

"Most definitely."


	5. Chapter 5

"Frank!" Dan shouted, storming out of the lift. "Frank! Tell me you're here!"

"Dan?" Frank asked, walking out. His eyes widened as he saw Dan, with Aneisha and Tom on one side of him and Matt and Sky on the other. "What's going on?"

"I, uh . . ."

Frank glanced at Sky and Matt. "Dan, I've told you before about bringing unauthorised people down here."

Sky rolled her eyes, stepping forward. "Oh, please. I'm nine hundred years old, Old Man. I don't care about _state secrets_." To prove the point of her power and strength, she pushed on Frank's shoulder sharply. The curly-haired man stumbled, his wide eyes finding Dan as he regained his balance and Sky grinned. "_Now _I remember why I love human blood so much. You're so alive, Old Man. I've never met anyone who's alive like this."

"Sky," Dan said, although he appeared to be biting back a grin. "Knock it off."

Sky's smile dropped from her mouth and she gave Dan a bored look. "You take all the fun out of everything."

"Yeah, that's me," Dan muttered. "Taking the fun out of everything."

Frank nodded anxiously, inching away from Sky, who grinned in amusement, even when Aneisha threw her a disapproving look. Ignoring Sky, Frank gestured to Matt. "Who's he?"

Dan clapped his hand on Matt's shoulder. "How's your heart today, Frank?"

"Fine, I guess," Frank said. "It's beating."

"Better hope you're not in danger of a heart attack today," Dan said.

"Why?" Frank asked, just as Dan and Matt shared a secret grin and Matt Turned. Sky started laughing as Frank stumbled backwards, his eyes wide. Frank stared as Matt slowly padded towards him, pushing his wet nose into the man's hand. Murmuring about how impossible the whole ordeal was, Frank patted Matt's head as the wolf stared up at him with earnest silver eyes, sinking back on his haunches.

"So, another werewolf," Frank said. "Okay. So three vampires, two werewolves and one Sorceress. Anything else?"

"Um, I'm technically only half vampire," Sky said, raising her hand.

Frank rolled his eyes. "Any sign of Zoe?"

"Yeah. We found her and she kind of . . . snapped my neck," Dan said, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"Snapped your . . ."

"Vampire healing," Sky said, grinning. "Best thing in the world, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I don't think so," Frank said. "I'd rather have a beating heart than be able to heal a broken neck in ten seconds flat."

"Actually, it takes about half an hour," Dan said. Sky looked amused as Frank sighed, running a hand through his hair. "So, what do you need?"

"We know how to get Zoe back . . . kind of," Dan said, giving Sky an anxious look.

"What do you mean, '_kind of'_?" Frank asked sceptically, glancing between Dan and Sky and Tom and Aneisha and trying to look anywhere but the massive wolf at his feet that used to be a teenage boy with a sad, heartbroken look in his eye.

"It kind of involves capturing Zoe, locking her up and either torturing her or making her feel," Tom said, wincing.

"Are you . . . Are you _serious? _You want to – "

"Do you have any idea how many people she's murdered?" Dan yelled, his voice echoing and bouncing off the walls. "In the past week, she has killed thirteen people, just on a whim! She can't be allowed to walk free like this!"

"How can you possibly even – "

"Do you think this is easy for me?" Dan shouted. His anger was quickly turning into fury, and that fury was setting his Thirst loose, turning his eyes black as night and his veins dark with hunger. At the sight of it, Frank stumbled and fell backwards on the hard floor. "Do you think this is easy? I already know that as soon as we get Zoe back, the guilt of what she's done will _kill _her. But that's the choice I have to make. I have to choose between the lives of thousands of people and Zoe. And even though every part of me is telling me to just save Zoe, I have to choose the thousands of people that she will kill if I don't do this."

Frank sighed. "What do you need me for?"

"We need somewhere to hold her," Dan said quietly, the darkness in his veins receding.

"Somewhere to hold her captive," Frank said, and Dan nodded.

"Consider it done," Frank said quietly. Dan nodded, giving him a small, sad smile of gratitude and he looked down at Matt, still lying on the floor near Frank's feet. Almost as if he could read the blonde's mind as well as Sky could, he got to his feet and padded over to Dan. By the time he reached the vampire, he was walking on two legs, not four, and he was wearing jeans and a black jacket, not a fur coat the deep, warm colour of chocolate.

"Thank you," Frank said.

Dan nodded solemnly. "Zoe would probably want me to drive a stake through her heart, but . . . I don't think I'd be able to manage it without knowing for sure. But what she does when we get her back, what she asks me to do . . ." He looked away, blinking tears out of his eyes.

"Sometimes it becomes too much when vampires wake up from something like this," Sky said quietly. "Sometimes they walk out into the sun of their own accord."

Frank sighed as he got to his feet, raking his hand through his hair. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, just save her. Just bring her back."


	6. Chapter 6

Dan sighed, throwing his hand over his head and closing his eyes. He could hear music playing from the record player softly across the room and every memory he had of Zoe was coming back to him, burying him under its weight.

"Dan?"

"Piss off, Sky," Dan said, staring up at the ceiling.

"I just wanted – "

"What if we can't get her back?" Dan asked. "What if we can't even – "

"We will," Sky said, sitting on the end of the couch. "We'll just – "

Dan abruptly sat up, fixing his cold blue gaze on her. "She killed Logan, Sky. She doesn't have limitations or hang-ups towards _anything. _That's not Zoe."

"Oh, and did you realise that before or after she snapped your neck?" Sky snapped, her dark eyes flashing with anger. Dan rolled his eyes at her and looked away, clenching his hands together. "Do we have to torture her?"

"If it comes to it, yeah," Sky said quietly, her expression softening. "That is a last resort, though, Dan."

Dan nodded, raking a hand through his hair quickly. "How . . . How far do we have to go with it?"

Sky sighed quietly, sitting on the armrest of the couch. "To the point . . . to the point of what would drive a human insane."

Dan stared. "_What?"_

Sky leaned towards him, her dark eyes insistent. "Dan, vampires can't go insane. Not in the way that humans think of insanity. We just lose ourselves. We lose our humanity. There are more ways for it to be done than a killed Sire."

Dan frowned. "So Zoe's already insane and torturing her to the point of insanity would . . . make it worse? Why the hell would you want to do that?"

Sky sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes. When she opened them, she said, her tone patient although her dark eyes told him she thought he was behaving like a child. "We wouldn't be making it worse, Dan. We'd be sending her over the edge. And if she'd already on the side of insanity . . ."

"Then she'd cross back over into sanity," Dan finished quietly, pushing his feet against the armrest underneath Sky so that the wood that held it together creaked. "Smart."

Both the Dhampir and the Offspring were silent for a long time until Dan asked, "What if it doesn't work?"

"It will," Sky assured him.

"Yeah, but what if it doesn't?" Dan asked, letting his legs sag limply against the couch as he looked up at the Dhampir. "What if her own emotions, her feelings, her own _mind, _aren't enough, so we go to the last resort and _that _doesn't work either? What do we do then?"

Sky moved abruptly, vampire making her move so fast that even Tom and Matt's werewolf vision would have been able to follow it – only a vampire's ever could have, even though Dan had trouble following her movements, in his slightly blood-deprived state. The movement happened between the blink of an eye – one minute, she was sitting on the armrest, and the next, she was kneeling on the couch beside Dan, her coffee eyes concerned.

Dan turned away, but he heard her as she said, "The only reason they wouldn't work is if she, for some _unknown reason_ didn't want to be herself. Knowing Zoe, I can't imagine that she wouldn't want to, after everything she's been through."

"I can," Dan muttered.

"Why?"

Now it was Dan who looked at Sky as if she were stupid. "_Because _of everything she's been through. She was Turned against her will. She had a Sire Bond with someone who had spent the entire time she'd known him torturing her. She was _forced _to drink only human blood and now she's killed God knows how many innocents." His azure eyes flashing, Dan leaned forward. "You say you know her, Sky, but you don't. Not like I do. I already know that trying to get her back is going to make her hate herself. Her compassion is who she is. Once she realises what she's done, it'll rip her apart."

"But you won't let that happen," Sky said. Dan thought that although she was several centuries older than he was, that she sounded incredibly naïve. "She loves you, Dan. She won't leave you. She'll – " She broke off ass Dan abruptly got up, walking a few steps away from her and linking his hands behind his head. "What?"

Dan turned to look at her. "I don't know whether her loving me is going to be enough to stop her from taking off her necklace and walking out into the sunlight. And to be honest, I don't know if I could bring myself to stop her if she did – it's my fault she's like this. I should have just left when William showed up. Made her forget me and left."

"You really think you could have made her forget you?" Sky asked.

Dan gave her a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on. Don't pretend you haven't noticed it – the way that Zoe can do things only Dhampirs and Offspring and Old Ones can do," Sky said.

"I've kind of had more pressing matters to worry about like the fact that I'm the lovechild of my mother and her husband's brother and the fact that my girlfriend hasn't been herself for a month than why said girlfriend can compel people when she shouldn't be able to," Dan snapped. He glared at his sister for a few more moments and then sighed. "She's not a Dhampir, if that's what you're thinking."

"Maybe," Sky said quietly, averting her gaze.

"Okay, what the _hell _is that supposed to mean?"

Sky met his gaze levelly and resisted the urge to kick him where it would really hurt. They really needed to get Zoe back – not necessarily because she was killing innocent people, but because Dan was becoming a real dick without her around. "Have you ever heard of a second generation Dhampir?"


	7. Chapter 7

"What the _hell _is a second generation Dhampir?" Dan asked, his blue eyes flashing. There were so many kinds of vampires emerging these days, he was having issues keeping up with them.

"Okay," Sky said. "I'm a First Generation, because one of my parents was undead and the other was human. A Second Generation is a Dhampir who has a Dhampir parent and a human parent, or two Dhampir parents."

"What if one parent's vampiric?" Dan asked.

Sky shook her head. "That would make a First Generation. There's not much that differentiates Second from First Generation Dhampirs, except that to actually activate their vampire genes, they have to be Turned like a regular vampire. After that, their Dhampir abilities will surface after about a month."

"You think Zoe . . ." Dan shook his head. "No, it's not possible. She's a clone, Sky. She wasn't even born."

"She an exact clone of some guy," Sky said.

"Yeah. So?"

"Exact?"

"Ye - . . . _Oh. _You think . . . You think _Mastermind _is a Second Generation Dhampir, and that makes Zoe one?"

"Sounds plausible."

"She's not . . . She can't even walk in the sun!"

"A _month, _Dan." Sky said. "They would start to surface within a month. She's only really hit a month now, hasn't she? And she made you think something was happening that wasn't. She would have had a dormant Dhampir gene in her, that would have made her more resilient and stronger in life. It would explain why she didn't go running and screaming to the cops when she figured out what you are."

"Tom and Aneisha didn't," Dan pointed out.

"Aneisha's the Sorceress," Sky said. "She always knew about it, deep down on a subconscious level. And her mother would have dropped little hints about it to her growing up. They always do. As for the Warrior, I'm willing to bet that he was spineless before she made him her Warrior."

Dan withheld the urge to defend the werewolf-slash-Warrior. Instead, he asked, "And _how _do you know that?"

Sky rolled her eyes, as if the answer was obvious, staring him in the face. "Because the Sorceress are always odd, fickle women who almost always pick nerdy, spineless boys to turn into their manly, fierce protectors."

"So the Warriors are always human?"

"Not always," Sky said. "It's been known for guys to be picked that are werewolves at the time when they're chosen. I'm pretty sure there was a vampire once, too."

Dan perked up at that. "Is he still alive?"

"_She," _Sky said and Dan looked down sheepishly. The few books they'd been able to find that mentioned the Warrior and Sorceress made it seem like that Warrior was always male. "That particular Sorceress was lesbian. And no. She drove a stake through her own heart about fifty years ago, when her Sorceress died."

"Hey," Aneisha said, bounding up the stairs and into the attic. She had an unusually ecstatic expression on her face, and Dan wondered for a moment if she was drunk, but then Tom and Matt skulked up behind her. Matt looked only mildly concerned, but Dan recognized the look of all-consuming concern that Tom got on his face whenever Aneisha used her powers too much.

"Neish," Tom said softly, and Aneisha turned to him. Tom touched her face and groaned softly, almost like he was in pain as Aneisha relaxed into his hand, a soft sigh escaping between her lips.

When Tom stepped back, Matt looked between the two of them in confusion. "Uh . . . what the fuck just happened?"

Dan bit back a grin. He'd missed Matt's foul language over the past month.

"He just absorbed some of the remaining magic in my system that was enducing that drunken state," Aneisha explained.

"What were you just doing?" Sky asked. "You would have to use a hell of a lot to get like that. I mean, I've seen you make _the weather _do what you want it to, and you didn't get anywhere close to that."

"Wait, she can do that?" Matt asked, flopping down in the couch beside Sky.

"Yeah. Made it snow," Tom said, smiling across at her. The mention of Aneisha making it snow brought up memories Dan tried to shove down before his swirling emotions reared their ugly head, to no avail. Before he could blink, he was drowning in the memory of Zoe's mouth against his, of how the snow felt on his skin as he held her tighter, so passionate and alive in his arms that he almost couldn't believe that her heart was still.

"Hey, vampire. Snap out of it or I'll bite you."

Dan snapped out of his reverie as a blow snapped his head to the side and he looked back at Matt, shoving him away and fixing an amused grin on his face. "You wish, werewolf."

Dan could feel all his friends watching him, but he shook off the feel of their gazes, pushing the memories of Zoe and snow and emotions he hadn't allowed himself to feel in over a week down and away so that he couldn't reach them, and they couldn't touch him.

"I'm going to bed," Dan said, moving towards the doorway. "Somewhere you should all be thinking of going, if we're going to get Zoe tomorrow. To _sleep," _he added, for the benefit of Tom and Aneisha. Aneisha flushed beneath her dark skin tone and buried her face in the side of Tom's neck as Dan disappeared down the stairs. Tom smiled, his arm curling around her body as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.


	8. Chapter 8

_Dan ran his hands down her arms as she crushed her mouth against his, her body pressing against his so hard that he could feel every perfect contour of her body pressed against him. He smiled as he slowly kissed a trail from her lips to her throat and she dug her fingernails so harshly into his bare shoulders that it drew blood as Zoe flipped her auburn hair back so that it hung down her back and dipped her head back. One of Dan's hands slipped into her hair as he lifted his head, bringing her mouth to his own once again for a searing kiss._

* * *

Dan woke up cold and shivering, although it had nothing to do with the cold air blowing through his bedroom window. He didn't feel heat and cold like humans and werewolves did. _Emotions _were the only things that could invoke such strong physical responses in him anymore, and Zoe had known how to do that better than anyone else.

Almost angrily, he stormed over to the window and slammed it shut and leaned against the windowsill, his arms shaking as he clenched the wood so hard that his fingers left little ditches in the wood.

"Dan?" Sky asked cautiously, walking in.

"What?" Dan snapped, turning and leaning against the window with his arms folded over his chest. Sky glared at him and Dan sighed, raking his fingers through his hair as he let his body fall to the bed ungracefully. "What do you want, Sky?"

Sky shrugged. "To be honest, the stench of werewolf was starting to bug me. And the Sorceress and her boy _will not - Stop. Kissing."_

Dan shook his head, laughing silently. "Yeah, they're at that stage."

"And you and Zoe skipped it completely, going straight to having sex every spare moment you got," Sky commented, before she had even thought about the implications of that statement. Dan turned away, clenching his hands together between his knees.

"I'm sorry," Sky said quietly, after a long silence. "I didn't thi – "

"Yeah, obviously not," Dan snapped, cutting her off. His jaw clenched tightly and he looked down, letting his blonde hair fall into his eyes. He glared at the ground, but then the memories started to come back through the cage he seemed to be keeping them in, along with his Thirst, and he hissed angrily through his teeth, grabbing the nearest object his hands could find and throwing it across the room. It turned out to be his alarm clock, and it crashed through his window. The sound of glass breaking and falling rang in his ears long after jagged daggers made of glass littered the floor.

"Have you always been this psychotic?" Sky asked.

"Yes," Dan snapped. "As a matter of fact, I have. Zoe, would you believe it, made me not psychotic."

"I would literally snap your neck right now, if you weren't wearing an expression that makes you look like a kicked puppy," Sky remarked and Dan scowled. He was a vampire, one of the two living Offspring. He wasn't fond of being compared to a puppy.

"If you don't shut up, I'm going to make you go back and sit in the room with the werewolf stench," Dan threatened, and Sky didn't doubt for a moment that he would, so she shut up.

"Are you going to be alright?" Sky asked after another long silence, giving him a concerned look.

"I'll be fine," Dan muttered, and then he straightened up, his eyes alert. "I can hear her."

* * *

Much as she had when they'd gone to kill William, Aneisha formed a shield around them, concealing herself, Dan, Tom, Sky and Matt from anyone who couldn't see them. Dan waited until he saw a flicker of red and he lunged forward, slamming Zoe back into the nearest tree.

He saw a flash of green as she struggled against him, and he muttered an apology she couldn't hear before he put his hands on either side of her head and twisted sharply, not all that different to the way William did to her not that long ago.

He caught her as she slumped against him, swinging her into his arms. He kissed the top of her head and as he looked down at her, he could almost pretend that she was just asleep, that she was herself.

"Well, that went better than expected," Sky commented wryly, walking towards him. Dan threw her a cold, slightly annoyed look, but he didn't say anything.

* * *

Frank didn't say anything as Dan and Sky strapped Zoe to a chair in one of the rooms adjoining the main section of HQ, but he had this kind of kicked-puppy look in his eyes that made Dan want to tell him to get out. It was bad enough that Sky kept telling him that _he _looked like a kicked puppy. He didn't want to have to see what that expression looked like.

Almost as soon as they'd secured her, Zoe woke up, straining and fighting against the chains that bound her to the chair. Cursing, Sky and Dan jumped back, standing halfway between Zoe and where Tom, Aneisha, Frank and Matt were standing on the other side of the room as Zoe hissed words that Dan was sure she never would said in any other circumstances.

"Frank, you might want to get out," Sky said, keeping her eyes fixed on Zoe as she lunged her body forward, and the chains rattled against the chair. "This could get ugly."

When Frank didn't go, Dan rephrased the statement. "This will get ugly, Frank. Get out."

"I still don't like those two being here," Frank commented from the doorway, gesturing to Sky and Matt.

Sky rolled her eyes. "Please. I'm only here because they need me. Matt's only here because he needs to know where she dumped Logan's body."

"She killed someone?" Frank asked.

Zoe grinned. "I killed lots of people. What are you going to do about it?"

Matt resisted the urge to slap her and instead walked over to the door, pushing Frank through it and closing the door. Then he turned to the others, folding his arms over his chest. "Let's get this over with."


	9. Chapter 9

Dan looked from Matt to Sky, who smirked and shrugged. "You're up, blondie."

Dan sighed softly, moving towards Zoe. The redheaded vampire smirked as he neared her. She'd stopped struggling against the chains, and she looked amused more than anything else as he pulled up a chair and sat down. Sighing, she slumped back in her chair, blowing her auburn hair out of her eyes. Even so, Dan remained where he was, watching her with a soft expression.

Zoe groaned, breaking the eerie silence. "Are you going to stare at me all day? Because, no offense, every time you see me I get the urge to kick you in the teeth because you look like you're going to cry."

Sky sighed, massaging her forehead with her hand. "Well, this could take a while. Why don't you lot go find something else to do?"

Aneisha started to protest, but the two werewolves ushered her out before she could get a word out, and she turned to glare at Sky before she disappeared.

Dan turned back to Zoe, sighing softly as he reached out and brushed her hair behind her ear. Zoe jerked her head away and Dan dropped his hand into his lap, allowing himself to smile gently.

"Do you remember that camping trip, Zo?" Dan asked quietly, still smiling wistfully. "Do you remember the lake? Do you – "

"Oh, God. Memory lane," Zoe groaned, kicking her foot against the leg of her chair as she dipped her head back as far as she could get it. "Can I stick a knife through my eye now?"

"I'd never let you do that," Dan said. "You have to know that."

Zoe rolled her eyes and smiled, although it was nothing like she used to smile. "You know, I've spent the past week doing nothing but draining humans. Have you ever been high on blood? It's _amazing."_

"It's sick," Sky commented, from behind Dan.

Zoe just grinned, looking past Dan at the dhampir. "You know what it's like, don't you, Skylar?"

"Yeah, I do. And I hate myself every day because of it," Sky snapped and Zoe turned back to Dan.

"No one would ever guess the things you've done, would they, Daniel? Killing your mother, killing your father, getting your best friend's boyfriend killed. Do you think the Sorceress would be so quick to be your ally if she knew just how _black _your soul really is? She's going to find out eventually."

Dan looked up at her and glared, kicking her chair before he stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut so hard that it rattled on its hinges. Sky sighed and followed him out, leaving Zoe smirking after them.

* * *

"What happened to him?" Aneisha asked Sky, gesturing to Dan, who was sitting on the floor with haunted eyes.

"Zoe," Sky replied. "She knows him too well. Knows what buttons to push." She sighed, folding her arms over her chest. "We need another plan of attack. She knows that Dan's our first line of defence."

"So what do we do now?" Matt asked, swinging his swivel chair around to face Sky.

Sky sighed, pulling up a chair beside the werewolf. "We need someone who she loves just as much as she loves Dan, but who wouldn't be as obvious."

"Frank," Aneisha said.

"What?" Frank asked, turning.

Aneisha started laughing, although it sounded slightly forced. "No, I mean about Zoe!"

Sky looked confused, and Dan said, "He's like a father to her. He's the perfect choice, unless you want to bring Kloe in and explain the whole world of angels and demons to her."

"Angels don't exist," Sky said, and Dan rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Wait, they don't?" Aneisha asked.

"Not in the way that humans have come to think of them," Sky replied. "They're actually just spirits that follow certain humans and cause trouble."

"So angels are actually – "

"Ghosts," Matt replied, grinning. ". Even if you ask him, Casper's not going to be helping you out anytime soon. Sorry to ruin your childhood, Sorceress."

Aneisha rolled her eyes. "Don't call me that. I have a name, you know." She turned to Sky. "Don't start on the Frank stuff just yet."

"What do you want us to do in the meantime?" Sky asked.

Aneisha gave her a look that said she thought she was being stupid. "Hello? We have two werewolves at our disposal who have the ability to end her life. Scare her. Splash some Holy water on her."

"No – " Dan started.

"What other choice do we have, Dan?" Sky yelled. Dan glared at his sister before Aneisha leaned forward, her eyes gentle as she started to speak and Dan turned to look at her.

"Dan, I don't like it either," Aneisha said. "Really, I don't. But already, I can see this is going to be abnormally hard. Zoe's always been the strongest mentally out of all of us. Out of anyone I've ever met. It's going to take a combination of pain and reminiscing to get her back to herself."

Reluctantly, Dan turned to Sky. "Fine. Do it. Just make sure I'm not here when you do."

"Might want to get out, then," Sky replied. Dan sighed and got to his feet, moving towards the door that hid Zoe from him, knocking against it gently with his knuckles. "Zo? I'm going, but I'll be back later alright?"

"Piss off," Zoe's voice sounded from inside, followed by the sound of chains connecting with metal and Dan sighed, walking towards the lift. As he passed Tom, he yanked on his jacket to pull him to his feet, and gestured towards Matt. "You two, with me."

"Where are we going?" Tom asked, as he and Matt joined the blonde in the lift.

"We, my friend," Dan said, as the lift doors closed, "are going to teach you how to use those bad arse werewolf powers of yours to be a better Warrior."

"What do you need me for?" Matt asked.

"You're a born werewolf," Dan replied, as the lift doors closed. "You know how to use your powers to fight."


	10. Chapter 10

Dan dropped an old, worn book at Tom's feet and Tom threw him a confused look. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"It has the birth and death of every Sorceress recorded, although with details of their Warriors," Dan said, folding his arms over his chest. "Read it and tell me what it says."

Tom gave the blonde boy a 'Are you fucking serious' kind of look, but then he sighed, sitting on the forest floor and opening the book. Matt read over Tom's shoulder for a few minutes before his eyes widened and he moved to stand beside Dan against the tree, mirroring the vampire's posture. "I know the point you're trying to make."

"And what point is that?" Dan asked coldly, watching Tom through barely-seeing azure eyes. Before Matt could answer, Tom looked up. "Werewolves."

"Werewolves?" Dan asked, arching one golden eyebrow.

Tom nodded enthusiastically. "The Sorceresses that lived the longest were the ones that either had werewolves or a vampire of some description as their Warrior."

Dan nodded, straightening as Tom closed the book and placed it aside gently. "That puts us at an advantage. Ideally, a vampire would be better, but I'm not going to make you one because I don't think anyone would be impressed with another vampire right now, especially one with an Offspring's blood flowing through his veins."

"Why is that bad?" Tom asked, getting to his feet.

"Offspring, generally, have to work harder at control, because their Thirst is so strong," Dan explained. "When they make a vampire by feeding someone their blood; that stronger Thirst is passed on. It's also be hell for you, Tupper. Trust me on that." He sighed, raking a hand through his hair and looking away. "In some ways, William making Zoe a vampire was a blessing. If I had turned her, she would have inherited my stronger Thirst and she would have been Sired to me and we would have spent ten years trying to figure out how to break that bond without killing me, along with the _minor _issue of how to control her Thirst."

The way he said the word 'minor' communicated that that issue would have been anything _but _minor.

Tom nodded, taking it all in. "What happens if a vampire tries to turn a werewolf?"

Dan and Matt exchanged a glance, and this time it was Matt who spoke. "There's no '_try' _about it. They feed you their blood and you die with it in your system, you become what we call a _hybrida. _Half-vampire, half-werewolf. The ultimate curse."

"Why?" Tom asked.

Matt sighed. "You know that pull you feel now on a full moon now, to change? Well, as a _hybrida, _that urge becomes instinct. You have no choice but to change every full moon, and it is _excruciating."_

Dan threw Matt a puzzled look. "How do you know all this stuff?"

"My cousin was made one. She lasted two months before she begged us to knock her head off her shoulders, because that's the only way to kill a _hybrida,_" Matt explained. He turned to Tom and stepped forward. The easy going boy that Tom had come to know was gone, replaced by a strong young man.

_An alpha, _a voice somewhere in the back of Tom's head provided.

"Most vampires won't just kill you," Matt said, his voice hard. "They'll make you into a _hybrida _for fun. Entertainment. But you have a weapon a lot of vampires actually forget about. What is it?"

"My bite," Tom replied, eyes alight and focused on Matt. Dan suddenly remembered that werewolves had what was called a pack mentality – they preferred to be around others. They liked to have alphas, a leader. On an instinctual level, Tom recognised Matt as an alpha.

Matt nodded. "It works quickly. As soon as the venom's in their system, it starts to work. It hurts like a bitch, and then within twenty minutes, they're screaming. Within forty minutes, they're blind. Within the hour, they're dead. _That's _how good our bite is. But you're not just any werewolf. You're the Warrior. What is the Warrior's basic instinct?"

"Protect the Sorceress," Tom replied, his brown eyes dark and intense. "Protect her at all costs."

"Who does she need protecting from?" Matt asked, his voice louder and harder. "Why does she even need you? She's the Sorceress? Who's to say she can't protect herself?"

"Because they want her dead!" Tom shouted, spinning to face Matt.

Dan would have expected Matt to then step back and say, "Good," but it occurred to him that Matt wasn't in his right mind – he was grieving and angry with the world and Dan barely heard as Matt kept pushing further. Dan only snapped back to reality when Tom lunged towards him, slamming him into the tree. Dan shoved Tom away and groaned as Tom stumbled back a few steps, pain cascading up his spine.

"Really?" Dan asked, looking down at the piece of wood protruding from his stomach. He grunted softly as he pulled it out and threw it to the ground. The stick was as long as his forearm and appeared to be a branch that Tom had broken off. The jagged, pointed end, was stained red with his blood and it stained the dirt around it. Dan groaned softly as he felt the blood flow stop, and his skin knitted together and healed.

"Are you alright?" Matt asked, looking apologetic.

"I'm fine," Dan replied, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the tree. When he opened them again, he straightened up. "I think we're done for the day."

He scooped up the book and the three boys – the Offspring vampire, the werewolf and the Warrior-werewolf fell into step together.

"Just out of curiosity," Tom said as they walked. "Are there any other Offspring vampires?"

"As far as I know, there's two – twins that Katarina and Ezekiel had about two hundred years ago," Dan replied. "I don't know whether Katarina and William had any others apart from me."

"Sky would probably know," Tom remarked. At Dan's questioning look, he said, "Well, she knew about you, didn't she? She's nine hundred years old, for God's sake. I'd be more surprised if she didn't know."


	11. Chapter 11

"How is she?" Dan asked when he walked into HQ, Tom and Matt just behind him. Sky noticed that there was a hole in her brother's shirt, ringed by a circle of crimson blood, but she decided not to ask about it as she replied, "Sleeping. I don't suggest going in there."

"Why?" Matt asked, swinging himself up onto the table. Before Sky could answer, Aneisha emerged, carrying a half-full bottle of Holy water in her hand.

She brightened when she saw Tom and Dan flexed his jaw, fighting the urge to rip the bottle from her hand and throw it against the wall. Instead, Dan asked Sky if she knew of any other children of William and Katarina.

Sky looked uncomfortable, but the two werewolves looked interested, while Aneisha looked tired, leaning against Tom. Reluctantly, Sky sighed and answered;"About fifty years ago, they had a baby girl. Bethany."

Dan folded his arms over his chest, and Aneisha willed him to calm down.

"Do Veronica and Malik know about her?" Dan asked, referring to his older – half – brother and sister.

Sky hesitated and then nodded. "She doesn't live in Britain."

"Where?" Dan asked eagerly.

Sky hesitated again. "Sydney. Australia."

"What the hell is she doing there?" Tom asked. "That's the hottest continent on the planet!"

"Sunlight doesn't bother Offspring," Dan replied. "And she'd be safe from the Hunters there."

"Are you going?" Sky asked him, as Dan started towards the lift.

Dan turned back to her. "I have to, Sky. I have to go and do _something _that doesn't make me want to break _her _out every single second. I figure I can't do that if I'm on the other side of the world."

Aneisha gave him a small, encouraging smile as he passed her. "Good luck."

"Yeah," Dan muttered, as the lift doors closed.

* * *

"So you found out about the other bastard of your mother's," Ezekiel commented. Dan nodded, absently playing with the Morgan family ring on his finger, since he'd started actually wearing as a ring over the past couple of days instead of on a chain around his neck. Dan bit down the urge to tell Ezekiel that it wasn't fair to call Beth a bastard, but he knew that his uncle wasn't insulting his . . . sister, just stating the facts.

"And you want to go and find her," Ezekiel said.

Dan nodded. "I have . . . I have to do something. I'm going crazy, just sitting there. I nearly got staked today while Matt and I were trying to teach Tom to hone his abilities."

"So you want to find Beth as . . . what? A distraction?"

"Kind of," Dan admitted. "But she's my sister, Zeke. I want to know her."

Ezekiel sighed and stood. Dan watched as he left the room and when he came back, he dumped several wads of cash on the counter beside his nephew. When Dan threw him a questioning look, he smirked. "You're welcome."

* * *

"That was Dan," Sky said, hanging up the phone and crossing her legs. "His flight to Australia leaves in two hours."

"So he's actually going?" Aneisha asked, as Zoe woke up in the next room and started struggling against her chains, screaming threats.

Sky nodded. "You think he's running away, but he's not. He should be away from here while we do this and he needs to come to terms with who he is, who William was."

Aneisha threw a worried glance at the door, leaning against Tom. "You don't think he'll stay there, do you?"

"No," Sky said. "He'll end up dragging Beth back here, if anything. I wouldn't be surprised if Malik and Veronica show up at some point, either."

"His older brother and sister?" Tom asked. "Do you have contact with them, Sky?"

"No. Why?" Sky asked, her brow furrowing.

"What if Malik and Veronica know more about this than you do?" Tom asked. "They might have a better idea of how to do this."

Sky sighed. "I'll give them a call, but Malik's kind of a dick. They might not come."

"Kind of?" Aneisha asked incredulously.

"There's no kind of about it. He's a _total _dick," Matt said.

Sky laughed. "I think this might be the first and only time I agree with you, werewolf."

Aneisha's brow furrowed and she leaned against Tom, resting her head against his shoulder. "Do you have to call everyone by what they are? Can't you, like, just call people by their names?"

"What's the fun in that?" Sky asked. "Names are boring."

Frank, sitting across the room, rolled his eyes and turned back to the computer. This was insane. Zoe was tied up in the next room because otherwise she would consistently murder people for the fun of it, and there was a werewolf who was mourning the death of his boyfriend and Aneisha could control whatever the hell sshe wanted and there was a half-vampire who called people by their race.

God, he must be insane.


	12. Chapter 12

Dan looked up at the house, biting his lip and squinting against the sunlight. He'd known, before he came here, that this country's sun was hot. He just hadn't anticipated _how hot._

Pushing thoughts of Zoe into the back of his mind, he rang the doorbell and stood back, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans and waited. He was starting to contemplate ringing the doorbell again when the door opened and a girl leaned against the doorway. She looked to be roughly the same age as Dan himself, with the same golden hair, although hers appeared to be bleached from her extra exposure to sunlight. Dan immediately noticed that she had the same dark eyes as Katarina and a lump formed in his throat. He swallowed it as the girl raised her eyebrows, brushed her long hair out of her eyes and asked, "Can I help you?"

"Beth? Beth Morgan?" Dan asked uncertainly. He had no doubt that this was his sister – he could pick the different pieces that she'd gotten from Katarina, and the different pieces of William that she'd gotten, like the hair that they shared.

"Yeah," Beth replied, and her lips pursed into an expression that Dan knew well – it was one that Katarina used to wear when she was irritated.

Wordlessly, Dan pulled his ring from his finger and passed it to Beth. Beth took it, turning the bulky ring over in her hands and ignoring her long, waist-length hair as it fell forward. When she finally looked up, her eyes were swimming with tears and her voice shook when she spoke. "Dan?"

Dan nodded and she grinned, brushing tears from her eyes as she hugged him. "They told mme you'd come."

* * *

Zoe stared at Sky for a long time. "Why are you lying to me?"

Sky shrugged, as if her brother going to some foreign country was no big deal. "Why wouldn't I tell you anything but the truth? You're tied up. It's not like you can get up and go do something about it."

"How do you know?" Zoe asked. "I could break free and murder the lot of you in your sleep, starting with the Sorceress."

Sky snorted. "Doubtful. In case you haven't noticed, that's blessed metal. Dan and I had a hell of a time strapping you down."

Sighing, Zoe turned to look at her wrists, her green eyes tracing the trail of blood that started at the point where the chains circled around her upper arms and ran down her arms to the tips of her fingers, marking her fair skin with crimson lines. Then she turned to look at Sky. "What _is_ the point of you? All you seem to do is bring bad news."

Abruptly, the chair slid out from under Sky as she gripped Zoe's hair and forced her head back. Zoe gritted her teeth as pain exploded across her scalp, but she grinned up at Sky. Shaking her head, Sky stepped back. She tilted her head to the side and watched Zoe as the redhead grinned back, almost as if she had a secret that Sky didn't know about.

Sky folded her arms over her chest. "What did you do with Logan's body?"

"His body?" Zoe asked, laughing. "I don't know. You'll have to ask him."

"Ask . . . What are you talking about?" Sky asked through narrowed eyes, leaning down so that she was eye level with her.

Zoe leaned forward as far as her chains would allow, which was in reality only a few centimetres. "I didn't kill Logan. I sure as hell didn't keep him alive, either."

Sky stared at Zoe as she sat back in her chair, grinning, before she walked over to the door and called Aneisha in. Aneisha glanced between Zoe and Sky, puzzled, until Sky said, "I want you to read her aura and tell me if she's lying."

"Wh – "

"Please, Neish," Sky practically begged and the fact that she had used her real name was enough to alert the Chosen Sorceress as to how serious the situation was.

"Why can't you just read her thoughts?" Aneisha asked.

"It's not always reliable," Sky replied. "And I'm willing to bet she knows how to shield her thoughts from me."

"Okay," Aneisha said. "I'll try. Did you manage to get ahold of Veronica and Malik?"

"Yeah. Malik, as always, is being an arse and isn't coming," Sky replied, before she nodded towards Zoe. Aneisha took a deep breath and nodded as Sky stepped towards Zoe. "Did you kill Logan?"

Zoe's eyes flitted to Aneisha quickly before she looked back towards Sky. "No."

"Did you leave him alive?"

"No," Zoe replied, smug. Sighing, Sky ushered Aneisha out of the room and then turned to her expectantly.

"No change," Aneisha said. "Sky, what – "

"You know what it means," Sky cut her off and Aneisha nodded slowly, crossing her arms across her torso.

"What does it mean?" Tom asked.

Sky turned to look at the two werewolves, sitting side by side on top of the table. Frank had left hours ago, unable to stay in HQ knowing that Zoe was tied up in the next room. Tom looked curious, that natural eagerness of his to learn making him want to know every detail of what was going on coming into effect, even now. Matt, however, looked nothing but desperate. Sky vaguely recognised that at the moment, this was what Matt shared with Dan. They were both desperate, so desperate that they would do anything to save the people they loved who were in danger.

Sky exchanged a glance with Aneisha and then turned to Matt, sweeping her hair up into a ponytail at the back of her neck so that she would have something to do, and so that the others wouldn't see how badly her hands were shaking. Even she, who had only known Zoe for a couple of weeks, couldn't believe that she would do this, no matter how out of control she became.

"Zoe didn't kill Logan, nor did she leave him alive," Sky said.

Matt stared. "All the blood . . . there was no way he could have survived."

"A couple of drops is all it takes," Sky said gently, "if you die with it in your system."

"Sky," Tom said, glancing cautiously between the werewolf beside him and the dhampir. "What are you saying?"

Sky swallowed her nerves. "Zoe didn't kill Logan. She made him a vampire."


	13. Chapter 13

"How long have you known?" Beth asked. "That you were William's son, I mean."

"Only a couple of weeks," Dan replied, twisting his ring around his finger. He was sitting on the couch in Beth's living room and he could see that in some sense she was like him – at least she was when it came to her décor. She seemed to avoid black furniture as much as possible.

"When did you find out?" Beth asked.

"When Sky showed up," Dan replied. "It was her who told me you even exist."

"Yes, the half-breed," Beth commented. Then she frowned at Dan. "It wasn't William who told you?"

Dan shook his head. "No. Sky showed up, claiming to be my cousin and bringing to my attention the fact that dhampirs even exist and that regular vampires can even reproduce. Then she dropped the bombshell about William."

Beth laughed. "She always was a bit melodramatic, that one. How is our dear father?"

She said it sarcastically, but Dan looked away, clenching his fist around his ring. "He's dead."

Beth's expression didn't change. As it turned out, she was just as indifferent towards their father as he was. At least they had that in common. "What happened?"

"He made my girlfriend a vampire and we found out that she was Bonded to him so we . . . killed him," Dan said.

Beth looked mildly impressed. "You'd need the Sorceress to do that. You know her?"

Dan nodded. "Know her. Know the Warrior. The Warrior saved my life."

"And Mum?" Beth asked, reaching up and braiding her hair. Dan shrugged and she nodded. "So . . . this girlfriend of yours. Why isn't she with you?"

Dan's jaw clenched and he caught her eye. "You know why."

Beth looked vaguely amused. "She's not herself? You should have known that would probably happen, Offspring."

"I knew that," Dan said.

"And you did it anyway?" Beth asked. "God, you must really love this girl."

Dan started to answer, but then his phone rang. Frustrated, he answered. "What do you want, Sky?"

"_God, calm down," _Sky replied. "_I just wanted to update you."_

Dan frowned, catching Beth's puzzled eyes briefly as he sank back into the couch. "What happened?"

"_Zoe didn't kill Logan," _Sky replied.

"What do you mean, she didn't . . . Oh _no. _She didn't."

"_She did," _Sky confirmed gravely. "_We're on our way to get him now."_

She started to say something else, but Dan cursed and threw his phone against the wall, watching as it collided with the white paint and then smashed, falling to Beth's wooden floorboards in a small collection of phone parts. Dan then dropped his head into his hands, sighing softly.

"Dan?" Beth asked gently. "Are you alright? Who's . . . Who's Logan?"

Dan didn't answer for a very long time.

* * *

Sky stared at her phone in disbelief as Tom drove the car through the darkness. "He hung up on me!"

Matt laughed bitterly, every muscle in his body so tense that it was a wonder he didn't snap. "Oh, I doubt that."

Sky turned to look at him. "What do you mean?"

From the front seat, Aneisha laughed – although hers was genuine, unlike Matt's. "He probably got pissed off and threw it against the wall, knowing Dan. Turn right."

Abruptly, Tom steered the car into the right-hand adjoining road and Matt grunted softly as his body was thrown against the door. "How are you tracking him, anyway?"

"Same way we tracked you, once upon a time," Tom remarked, but didn't elaborate. Matt rolled his eyes, but they all lapsed into silence, apart from Aneisha's voice whenever they had to turn. Finally, they pulled up to an old, abandoned farm. Sky could see the farmhouse and then a barn set behind that, the paintwork old and faded on both structures.

"The barn," Aneisha said, and then Sky burst out of the car, followed closely by Matt, who wasn't immortal and had had to unbuckle his seatbelt before getting out of the car.

"Stay here," Sky said to Matt, opening the door just a crack.

"But – "

"Just stay," Sky said, and she was gone before Matt could tell her that he was a werewolf and not a golden retriever.

"Logan?" Sky asked, walking into the barn. She was immediately hit with the strong scent of human blood, drifting towards her from the hay bales in the back of the room, but she'd long since tamed her Thirst, and it merely docilely raised its head.

"Logan?" Sky asked, as she noticed spots of blood on the hay bales. A figure rose from the hay, shaky on its feet. The figure was clearly male, with a mop of dark brown hair. Logan's clothes were ripped and covered with hay stained with blood, and his mouth was smeared with crimson.

"Logan . . ." A voice breathed behind Sky and she spun to face Matt. "I thought I told you to stay outside!"

"Yeah, you didn't really expect me to stay out there, did you?" Matt asked coldly, and then he turned to Logan.

"Matt?" Logan asked. Matt nodded and Logan barrelled towards him, moving so fast that even Sky's dhampiric eyesight had trouble following his movements as he collided with Matt, sending the werewolf back into the barn doors.

"I think you were right about Dan," Sky remarked as she swung into the car beside Logan. Logan was sitting between her and Matt in the backseat of the car. "I can't get ahold of him."

"Told you," Aneisha replied. "Where are we going to take him? I don't think it's a good idea for him to be near Zoe."

"We'll go to Zeke's," Matt said, as if it was the most obvious solution. "Zoe will be alright down there by herself for one night, won't she?"

"Yeah," Tom replied. "We'll just have to tell Frank to stay out of HQ until we can get back down there."


	14. Chapter 14

The next morning, Stella stormed into HQ, looking for any sign of Frank London and his agents. Frank hadn't been answering any of the messages she'd sent him, and none of his agents had been showing up for training. What on _earth _were they doing?

She found a tired and bloody Zoe tied to a chair.

"What the hell – " Stella started, but then hands yanked her back out of the room, closing the door behind her. She spun to face Aneisha, Tom, Frank and a teenage brunette girl that she'd never seen before.

"Frank, why the _hell _is one of your agents tied to a chair and bleeding?" Stella snapped.

"She's not," Aneisha said.

"_What?" _Stella asked, incredulously.

"She's not bleeding," Aneisha said. "Her wounds are healed. You're just seeing the dried bloof."

Stella stared at her, but before she could get a word out, the lift opened, revealing Dan and a blonde girl. Aneisha started to ask who the blonde girl was, when Stella beat her to it, snapping out the question as if her rage was so great that speaking was a task in itself.

"Frank," Dan said, and Frank nodded, yanking Stella out of the room, to one of the other various rooms that ajoined the main part of HQ. Dan really hoped that he wouldn't have to compel her to forget this.

"Where have you been?" Sky asked. "What did you do to your phone?"

"He smashed it against a wall," the blonde girl replied, grinning in amusement. Dan shook his head and Sky noticed the circles under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept. She supposed that he probably hadn't – he'd probably gone straight to the airport pretty much as soon as he'd gotten off the phone.

"How is she?" Dan asked, yawning into his hand.

"I've got an idea that I want to try, if no one objects," Aneisha said. When no one did, she walked into Zoe's room, and Dan sighed, closing his eyes.

Aneisha pulled up a chair and sat down, smiling gently. "Hey, Zo."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "_God. _What do you want?"

"Nothing," Aneisha replied. "I just want to talk."

"Well, I don't want to talk to you, _Sorceress. _You're boring," Zoe told her darkly and Aneisha shrugged, sitting back in her chair and watching Zoe with dark eyes. Zoe opened her mouth to ask what the hell she was doing, when she saw the door open and Frank walked in.

Amused, Zoe turned to Aneisha. "You must be really desperate."

Her attention was on Aneisha, but she wasn't so focused on the Sorceress that she missed Sky enter the room after Frank and snap his neck.

Zoe screamed, pitching forward and ignoring her chains as they pulled tight against her, searing her flesh. Aneisha immediately dropped the illusion and Zoe gasped, letting her body fall slack against her chain so that she was leaning forward like a corpse, her hair covering her face. Aneisha started to say something, but then the door swung open, revealing Dan and Tom standing in the doorway.

"Zoe?" Dan asked, staring at her. Zoe, silent tears running down her cheeks, nodded.

"Zo," Dan breathed, and Aneisha jumped to her feet, sending her chair sliding across the floor as she moved into Tom's side while Dan started undoing Zoe's chains, ignoring how his skin seared upon contact with the metal. When she was free, Zoe launched herself into his arms, burying her face into the crook of his neck as she sobbed, holding onto his shoulders as tightly as she could. His hands found her waist, pulling her off the chair and against him.

"Dan," Zoe whimpered, sliding her hands down his spine and locking her fingers around his back to keep him there.

"It's over," Dan murmured into her hair, brushing his hand across the back of her shoulder. "It's done."

* * *

"Are you having any luck?" Dan asked. Zoe stilled the scrubbing of her arms and looked over her shoulder at Dan, who was leaning against the doorway. She silently shook her head and Dan moved into the room, gesturing to the chair that was beside her. Her tears had dried a long time ago, but Zoe wiped at her cheeks as if she could still feel them on her skin as she sat down and Dan gently took the cloth from her, leaning against the sink and wringing it out. Zoe watched the crimson water trickle from the material and into the sink before Dan turned to her, holding his left hand out to her, as he was holding the cloth in his right.

Zoe hesitated for a moment before she slipped her arm into his grasp. His touch was soft and gentle, his thumb brushing back and forth across the underside of her wrist as his other hand scrubbed at her skin, smearing her skin with red water.

"Are you alright?" Dan asked gently.

Zoe shook her head, pressing her lips together. "I can see them. Everyone I hurt. Everyone I _killed. _And the Hunters . . . the Hunters are coming after us, Dan."

Dan fought to keep his expression neutral. "You saw them?"

"They tried to kill me," Zoe said. "And I . . ." her voice shook and she looked away. Dan stopped scrubbing and dropped the cloth into the sink, reaching out and brushing Zoe's hair out of her eyes. Zoe looked up at him. "Dan, I can do that _thing. _That illusion thing."

The corner of Dan's mouth twitched up. "I'm familiar with it."

"Dan, what am I?" Zoe asked, gripping his hands.

"Sky called it a Second-Generation dhampir," Dan explained. "Generally, it means you're descended from a dhampir, but in your case, it means that – "

"Mastermind was a dhampir," Zoe said. She sighed, standing and starting to walk away from him, but Dan grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. Zoe sighed softly and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pressing her nose into his shoulder.

"I love you," Zoe breathed against his jacket. Dan just smiled softly and held her closer.


	15. Chapter 15

"How is she?" Beth asked from where she and Sky were sprawled across the couch as Dan entered the living room, sighing as he collapsed into the couch beside Sky.

"She's asleep," he said, rubbing his hand across his jaw.

"I didn't ask _what_ she's doing," Beth asked and Dan groaned softly, resting back against the back of the couch. _Why _did all his sisters have to be massive pains? "I asked how she is."

Dan sighed. "She's dealing."

"How bad is it?" Matt asked, sitting sideways on the armchair, his arms crossed over his chest while his legs flopped over the side.

"She killed a lot of people," Dan said quietly. "She was only like that for, what? Ten days? But it was enough. Enough to hurt people." He looked at Matt. "You do know _why _she turned Logan, don't you?"

Matt nodded slowly. "To get back at me. For taking her to William. Does she . . . Does she remember doing it?"

Dan nodded. "She remembers asking about him. How's he dealing?"

"Well, to be dealing, he has to actually be accepting to what's going on around him," Matt remarked, his eyes clouded. "He's kind of in denial."

"Jesus," Dan muttered, running his hand through his hair. "Has he fed?"

"Can't get him to," Matt replied. "He looks like death, Dan, and he won't – "

"Wait until we get Zoe in there," Dan said. "She's his Sire. She'll straighten him out."

Matt smiled weakly, leaning his head against the back of his seat and closing his eyes. Unable to cope with the heavy atmosphere in the room anymore, Dan got to his feet and walked back to his bedroom, where Zoe was curled up in his bed, her auburn hair fanning out across her pillow. They'd scrubbed the blood from her arms long ago, but almost as if her subconscious thought it was still there, she brushed her hand up her arm in her sleep, but returned it back to hugging her torso when her hand found nothing.

She turned over, sighing softly as her arm hung over the side of the bed, her fingertips brushing his carpet. Dan smiled gently, watching her chest move up and down in a process that her body simply did out of habit instead of necessity.

Then, a loud gasp ripped from Zoe's throat and she sat up, her eyes wide as she scooted back against the mattress, her back colliding with the head of the bed.

"Zo," Dan said quietly, sitting down on the bed beside her and putting his hand on her cheek. His touch was gentle enough, but she knew how strong and fast he was – he could have pushed her down again at a split second's notice, if he needed to. She stared at him for a long time, her eyes taking everything about him, about the blonde hair that fell across his ocean-blue eyes.

"Ah, sorry," Zoe groaned softly, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes to stop the flow of tears before it began. "Just . . . a bad dream. I'm fine."

"Are you?" Dan asked quizzically.

"Maybe," Zoe replied evasively.

Dan sighed, leaning back on his hands. "Hey . . ."

Zoe's mouth quirked up into something that wasn't quite a smirk. "You want to know how I can do those illusions," and Dan nodded.

"Give me your hands," Zoe said, sitting up and putting her hands out. Dan carefully placed his hands in hers and Zoe closed her eyes, breathing in deeply and tipping her head back. Dan watched her for a moment before he looked down at his hands, and was almost sent reeling. Instead of their usual pale white, his arms were a soft, warm brown, made that way through hours in the sun. In front of him, Zoe squeezed her eyes shut as she fought to maintain her control, and the colour of his arms flickered quickly before the illusion slipped out from underneath her and she sighed, opening her eyes and putting her head in her hands.

"How did you – "

Zoe raised her head and gave him a weak smile. "Every dhampir has their talent. Unfortunately, mine takes a lot out of me."

* * *

When Zoe and Dan emerged from the bedroom, Matt was sitting on the couch with Logan beside him. Logan was sitting with his spine stiff, with that eerily stiff posture that only vampires could have. His head snapped up to look at Zoe as she entered, and Zoe stopped, looking uncertainly at Dan before she turned back to Logan.

"Zoe," Logan said darkly, and Matt put his hand on Logan's arm, his thumb brushing back and forth slowly. It was unmissable, how Matt's sun-browned skin looked so impossibly dark against Logan's deathly pale skin.

"Logan," Zoe greeted quietly. She suddenly wished there was a handbook or something on Siring vampires – as far as vampires went, she wasn't that old herself. What were you supposed to do, when you Sired a vampire?

"Why did you – " Logan broke off, putting his head between his knees and raking his fingers through his hair. Concerned, Matt shifted his hand to Logan's shoulder, but Logan flinched away, as if the werewolf's skin burned like blessed metal. "_Matt," _Logan hissed, his voice impossibly dark. "_Move."_

"Wh – "

"Matt, _move," _Dan hissed. He'd noticed what was happening before Zoe and Matt did and he lunged forward, grabbing Matt by the jacket and yanking him to his feet, away from Logan. Zoe moved so that she was kneeling in front of Logan, and she could see his veins darkening, his pupils widening as his sharpening canines pushed his bottom lip down.

"Logan – " Matt started, but Dan shoved him back, hissing something to him that Zoe was too focused on Logan to hear.

"Logan," Zoe said. "Listen to me – "

"Just get me out of here," Logan hissed. "Please. Before I hurt him."

Zoe nodded and grasped his jacket, guiding him with her until they were deep in the forest and she couldn't hear Matt's heartbeat anymore. Only then did she release Logan's jacket and he groaned, falling to the ground at the base of the closest tree.


	16. Chapter 16

"It's called the Thirst," Zoe started, leaning down in front of Logan.

Logan gave her an incredulous look through his fringe of dark hair, black cutting through vibrant cobalt. "What?"

"That bloodlust," Zoe said patiently. "It's like a monster inside you, isn't it? So strong it makes you want to scream."

"I need to make it stop," Logan moaned softly. "I don't want to hurt him."

Zoe nodded. "I know. So what kind of vampire do you want to be? A monster or – "

"I don't want to be one!" Logan yelled. "You made me one, as a way to get back at – "

"Don't," Zoe said, and he shut up. "Yes, I made you to get back at Matt, and I regret it. God . . . I never should have done it, Logan. I know that. But now we have to deal with repercussions. So, I ask you: do you want to live off of animals, or human beings?"

"Animals," Logan responded, almost immediately. "I don't want to hurt anyone."

Zoe smiled sadly and stood. "Come with me, then."

* * *

As soon as Zoe and Logan were gone, Dan released Matt. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out, Sky came tearing into the room, Beth right beside her, with Aneisha and Tom right on her heels. All four were wearing bright, excited expressions.

"Dan – " Beth started.

"We found something on Mastermind," Aneisha said.

Dan stared, while Matt looked confused, his brows knitting together as he asked, "Who?"

"Long story," Dan said. "What'd you find?"

"His real name was Jason Blackwood," Aneisha said. "He was the son of a Matthias Stott, who was a vampire Sired by one Malik Morgan back in the 1800's."

Dan grinned. "So he was a dhampir."

Beth nodded eagerly. "He was just never activated, though."

Dan looked confused. "Activated?"

"Dhampirs are an oddity," Sky started.

"An oddity?" Beth asked, laughing. "_Hello_, you're the freaks of the vampire world. The only things freakier than you lot are the _hybrida."_

"Back to being activated . . ." Dan said, casting Beth a glare.

"Well, dhampirs have a choice, around their seventeenth birthday," Sky started. "They start getting cravings. For blood."

"Like the Offspring?" Dan asked.

Sky nodded. "Except, if an Offspring refuses to feed before they hit eighteen, they die. Dhampirs will just get to live out the rest of their life as a normal human being."

Dan folded his arms over his chest as Aneisha added, "Matthias Stott wouldn't have known he existed, though."

"Why do you say that?" Matt asked, intrigued.

"These days, this guy is just a voice coming from computer speakers," Dan provided. "Trust me, if you'd ever met him, you'd know that if he knew about all this stuff, he would have opted to be immortal. He probably just had a lot of counselling done when he was around seventeen, thinking he was going crazy or something."

"So he died," Matt said. "And he preserved himself in a computer?"

"Pretty much," Tom replied. "He's real big on cheating death."

"He's also real big on causing it," Aneisha muttered and Beth burst out laughing, before she clapped her hand over her mouth, but not before Dan cast her a look that clearly said he thought she was going insane.

"Sorry," Beth muttered, although she didn't look it. She was grinning. "It's just . . . It sounds like this Jason Blackwood would make the perfect Dracula."

"Hey, did he actually exist?" Tom asked.

"Yeah," Sky replied. "Do you know of Vlad Tepes?" At Tom's blank expression, she asked, "Vlad Dracul?" She sighed. "Vlad the Impaler."

"Oh, yeah," Matt said, grinning. "He's awesome."

"Do you even know anything about the guy?" Beth asked distastefully. Dan had already figured out that his sister had an unusually strong distaste for werewolves.

"I know he impaled people," Matt replied.

"_Anyway," _Sky said, "some bright spark decided to make that damn psychopath a vampire. Bram Stoker hunted him down and killed him."

"Wait," Aneisha said. "Stoker was a Hunter?"

Sky exchanged a glance with Beth and rolled her eyes. "No. He was a Warrior."

_That _got Tom's attention. Abruptly, he walked over to the coffee table, where the book that documented all of the Sorceresses and their Warriors sat, and he flicked it open, his dark eyes reading quickly until he found the page he wanted. Then he stepped back, his eyes wide and disbelieving. "No way."

"What?" Aneisha asked, walking over to stand beside him.

Tom poked his finger at the page. "There. Bram Stoker was the Warrior to his wife, Florence Balcombe."

"You learn something new every day," Logan said, walking in with Zoe. Matt cried his name and flung himself towards the newest vampire, kissing him eagerly. When he pulled away, he searched Logan's eyes carefully, chocolate brown against sky blue. "Are you okay?"

"Not exactly, but I'm dealing," Logan replied, giving Matt as convincing a smile as he could.

Matt smiled. "Also, why do you smell like rabbit?"

Logan laughed and Zoe smiled as she walked to Dan's side, and he turned his head to press a kiss to her hair, speaking in a low voice, "Mastermind was a dhampir. His father was a vampire Sired by Malik."

Zoe looked up at him. "Your brother?"

Dan nodded and then the door was flung open, revealing two dark-haired teenagers. They were both tall, and their white skin and eyes that looked too old for their ages marked them as vampires. The girl had dark brown, almost black, hair that fell to her waist in ringlets that were too perfect to be natural, even for a vampire, and her once beautiful white floral dress was tattered and dirty. Her legs were marked with little lines of blood that showed she'd cut herself, but the wounds had healed too fast for them to bleed much. Her legs were caked with mud, all the way up her calves.

The guy seemed to be a completely different story.

Everything he wore was black, from the collar of his black leather jacket to the toes of his black boots. Like the girl, he was tattered and dirty, and looked tired. He was breathing hard, but his mouth curved into a grin. "Hello, Dan."

"Speak of the devil," Dan muttered, rolling his eyes. "Zo, Tom, Neish, this is Malik and Veronica."


	17. Chapter 17

Smirking, Malik Morgan wandered into the room. He crossed the room towards Tom and Aneisha, grabbing Aneisha's chin and staring into her face. He smiled, and Tom stiffened as Aneisha jerked her face away, her dark brown eyes flashing as she glared up at him.

"Sorceress," Malik said, smiling. Then, with speed that only vampires had, he whipped around and pinning Tom against the wall by his throat, pushing his forearm into the Warrior's throat. Aneisha cried out and Veronica yelled for Malik to let him go, but he just grabbed Tom's arm and examined the tattoo on the back of his hand. It had faded since it had first appeared on his skin, and instead of being just black against his fair skin, silver outlined the design, proof that he'd been made a werewolf after it had appeared.

"Interesting," Malik murmured, releasing Tom, and he fell to the ground, gasping for air. Aneisha crouched by his side as Malik walked over to Matt, standing beside Logan. Brown eyes hard and defiant, Matt pushed Logan behind him as Malik walked towards him, his light eyes glancing across at Dan before resting on the werewolf. "Matthew. I haven't seen _you _since you were a pup."

Matt glared. "We call our young cubs, not pups."

Malik rolled his eyes, as if he could care less. "Either way, you're still just a pet." He smiled across at Dan before turning his attention to Logan.

"You're only new," Malik said. "A week old, if I'm not mistaken." He lowered his voice, so low that only Logan would hear. "Have you ever truly fed? Have you ever felt bones cracking between your fingers?"

Malik paused, surveying what he'd done to the new vampire. Logan was visibly shaken, and although his pupils were dilating, enveloping the irises of his eyes, his veins remained pale.

"Have you ever – " Malik never got to finish his sentence, because someone yelled, "Leave him alone!" and shoved him up against the far wall.

Malik grinned, laughing, as he stared into the pretty face of the girl who'd been clinging to Dan's side since he stumbled through the door. Now, she was glaring up with the fierce determination of a mother protecting her child, her hand wrapped around his throat so tightly he knew he was going to bruises there for about a minute before they healed.

"You're his Sire," Malik laughed. "I can't say I was expecting that. You seem a little . . . _perfect _to me." He looked to Dan. "What'd you do, get bored one day and just _decide_ to turn someone into a vampire?"

Zoe growled through her teeth, bringing Malik's attention back to herself, and Aneisha stepped forward, but Dan was suddenly there, pushing her back behind Tom.

"Wh – "

"Let her go," Dan said quietly, his eyes fixed on Zoe even as he spoke to Aneisha. "This is part of dealing with it."

Aneisha looked like she didn't agree with that, but she remained at Tom's side, watching as Zoe stepped away from Malik, her green eyes guarded. "My Sire was killed."

Malik rolled his eyes and looked at Dan. "Typical of you, brother. The only girl you can bring yourself to love is one who can only make herself a Sire when she's not herself. I assume she was human when you met her."

Zoe glared and shoved Malik back into the wall, her fingertips hard against his throat as she closed them. Almost immediately, Malik thrashed against her, hissing softly through his teeth. Zoe held him for about a minute longer, before she stepped back and released him. Gasping, Malik collapsed on the floor, breathing hard as he glared up at Zoe. "Dhampir."

Zoe smirked as Dan moved to stand beside her, his azure eyes watching her with something that seemed to resemble awe. Something had changed in her, something that had made her stronger, tougher, and impossibly more gorgeous. When she was first Turned, her looks matured, making her face eerily more beautiful than she'd been in life. Now, pain and grief and guilt had made her mind and soul mature along with them.

"Why, are you scared of our kind?" Zoe asked, folding her arms over her chest, still wearing that little smirk on her mouth.

"Not enough to not murder you in your sleep," Malik remarked and suddenly Dan was gone from Zoe's side, leaning down in front of Malik as he hissed, "You touch her, and I will make you regret it very much, _brother."_

"I'm not scared of you," Malik replied.

"You should be," Sky said as Dan stepped back into Zoe's side, and Malik turned towards the brunette Dhampir. "I would strongly suggest you shut your mouth, half breed."

"Malik, shut up!" Veronica yelled from the doorway. "We came here to be safe, and all you're doing is pissing people off!"

Dan turned to look at Veronica over his shoulder. "What do you need safety for?"

"The Hunters," Malik said from his spot on the floor. "They chased us all the way down here."

"From where?" Dan asked, confused.

"From France," Veronica replied. "I don't think they're really after us, though. I think they just wanted to get to you." Her expression changed into something else, not pity, not anger, but something else entirely. "Have you killed any Hunters lately, Dan? They only ever get like this when one of their own is killed."

"Not Dan," Zoe said, her eyes blank, as if she was staring off at something else. "Me."

"Zoe, what – " Dan started, and Zoe turned to look at him. "You remember that girl William had me kill?"

Dan nodded slowly and Zoe pressed her lips together, looking down. "It turned out he was the leader of the Hunter's daughter."

"_No way," _Malik commented, laughing. "You killed _Eddie Carson_'s kid? Oh, you are so dead, dhampir."

Abruptly Zoe twisted, slamming her foot up and into Malik's chin. The back of his head knocked against the wall and his body slumped, unconscious.

"You know that was kind of unnecessary, don't you?" Veronica asked as Zoe turned back around.

"Not entirely," Zoe replied. "I feel better."


	18. Chapter 18

"So why did you even do what William asked?" Veronica asked. "You know he's psychotic, don't you?"

"It's not like I had a choice," Zoe muttered and Veronica's eyes widened just a little as she understood.

"How do you know it's you they're after, and not Dan? I mean, there is only four Offspring in existence. For a Hunter, we're a prized catch. And those people think we're the spawn of Satan himself. Carlson could have just found the body and figured it was Dan, Zeke or Sky," Beth said.

Zoe fixed Beth with a hard look. "Because they tried to ambush me and shoot at me with blessed metal bullets soaked in Holy water. Would you like me to describe what they felt like, too?"

"Alright, alright, calm down," Tom said.

"How about we all go and get some sleep?" Aneisha suggested. "It's been a long night and we're all tired. We can talk about what to do about the Hunters when we're all rested."

* * *

Dan smiled gently as he watched Zoe stretch out on the couch in the attic. He'd surrendered his bedroom to Logan, who'd looked like he was about to drop on the spot. Veronica and Malik had their own rooms in the house. Aneisha and Tom had gone back to Aneisha's, mainly because these days, Tom had trouble sleeping in a house full of vampires.

"Can I ask you a question?" Zoe asked as Dan sat on the arm of the couch, facing her, with his feet on both sides of her legs, and he nodded.

"What's up with Malik? He seems kind of . . ."

"Unhinged?" Dan asked, and Zoe nodded.

"When Malik was about to hit seventeen – "

"So before he started Changing?" Zoe asked, and Dan nodded. "When he and Veronica was about to hit seventeen, Malik went missing. On his and Veronica's birthdays, they found out that the Hunters had taken him. Katarina and Zeke had to burn down the warehouse they were keeping him in, but they'd had him for a month and a half."

"What'd they do to him?" Zoe asked gently.

"They taunted him with blood," Dan said quietly. "The problem was, he was going to feed the day after they took him. By that point, his craving were so strong that it was all he could think about. And they taunted him with it. They tied him up, dangled blood bags in his face. They did this thing where they would make this little cut on their fingers and then make him watch as it just ran down their hands. And they tortured him, in the traditional sense. He was still more or less human so he . . . he didn't have that natural resistance to pain that we have. It kind of screwed with his head."

Zoe sighed quietly, sitting up and fitting her fingers between his. "What happened when he got out?"

"Over the time he was there, he sharpened his nails into claws. On the last day, when they came into torture him with pain and blood, he grabbed the nearest Hunter and stabbed him in the throat with his nails. Because of that, he had the speed and strength to get himself out before the whole place went up, but he was mad for a long time after that. I didn't even meet him until I was about twelve, because he was just that unpredictable and insane."

"Wait," Zoe said. "That was him _sane? _He hates werewolves and Dhampirs for some unknown reason – "

"He has reasons," Dan said quietly. "I don't know why he hates Dhampirs, but I know he hates werewolves because of the torture that he had to go through."

Zoe frowned up at him. "What do you mean?"

"You know how if a werewolf bites a vampire, the vampire dies?" Dan asked, and Zoe nodded. "Well, if their venom, I guess you can call it, comes into contact with our skin, it _burns. _Like acid. And he was subjected to that every single day for over a month."

Zoe watched him for a long time, watched the way he picked at a loose thread on his jeans and the way his blue eyes took in her expression as she slowly moved so that she was sitting on her knees in front of him, taking his face in her hands. "You think they're going to do the same thing to me."

"I think they're going to find some way to make you hate me," Dan said quietly.

"They won't," Zoe said. "Do you know why?" When he didn't answer, she continued; "Because of SKUL. They had fifteen years to make me hate MI9, and they couldn't do it."

"But Zoe – "

"They won't make me hate you," Zoe said firmly. "They can't."

Dan stared at her for a long time before he reached out, tracing the shape of her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. "What about me? If you're right, and it's you they're after . . . what if they try to make me hate you?"

"You'll figure it out," Zoe said quietly, looking up at him with eyes so full of love and trust that he couldn't believe he'd allowed William to make her heart stop beating. Slowly, he slid down from the arm of the couch so that he was kneeling right in front of her as she smiled almost sadly, tracing the curve of his cheek with her hand. "You'll figure out a way to keep your own mind and heart."

Dan laughed, although it sounded forced, and looked down. "You know your faith in me is almost of religious proportions?"

Zoe smiled, letting her hand slide from his cheek, down his neck and to his shoulder. "You're stronger than you think you are."

Dan looked up at her, taking in the auburn hair that framed her face, the green eyes that captured and demanded attention, the lips that he knew from experience were soft and passionate. He glanced between her eyes and her lips quickly before he snaked his arm around her waist and up her back, drawing her as close as he could get her so that he could kiss her. Zoe laughed quietly as she settled against him, her legs on either side of his hips as he leaned back against the armrest. She sighed quietly into his hair as his soft lips found the skin of her throat, and she squeezed his shoulder, numbly wondering how she could have ever believed that death and destruction were as good as this.


	19. Chapter 19

Aneisha looked up, flicking her hair out of her eyes as Tom sat beside her. Her expression was guarded, like she thought her thoughts were only suitable for her alone. Sighing softly, Tom took her hand in his and lifted his hand, kissing her knuckles softly. Aneisha turned to look at him, her mouth pulling up slightly at the corners as he said softly, "Okay, out with it. What's going on with you?"

Aneisha sighed, pulling her hand away from his and raking both her hands through her hair. "It's everything."

"Everything?"

"Yeah. Malik, Zoe, Beth, the Hunters . . ."

"What about Zoe?" Tom asked quietly, reaching out and tucking her hair behind her ear as she stared down at her hands, massaging the back of one with the thumb of her other. She didn't look at him, even when she started speaking, she just continued to watch her hands moving against each other.

"She killed people, Tom," Aneisha said quietly. "I don't want to say that she'll do it again, but . . . but what if she does? What if she can't help it? What if – "

"She won't," Tom said fiercely. "Zoe's strong, and she's got Dan to keep her centred. She'll be fine."

Aneisha looked up at him. "But what about the Hunters? What if they end up killing them?"

Tom laughed quietly. "I hate to break this to you, Neish, but that lot? They're already dead."

Aneisha groaned loudly and dropped her head between her knees, clasping her hands behind her head. When she finally raised her head, she sat with her shoulders slumped. "That's the worst part. They look alive. I forget that they're not."

"You know it's still them, though, don't you?" Tom asked, and Aneisha nodded slowly. "Yeah, but . . . but they're _vampires_, Tom. They're not even . . . their whole existence is wrong. They shouldn't even _need _the Sorceress."

"Would you rather Zoe dead?" Tom asked. He must've said it harder than he meant to, because Aneisha flinched as if she'd been struck before shaking her head slowly. Of course she wouldn't rather Zoe dead. But if vampires didn't exist, then Zoe wouldn't have died in the first place. William would have died a long time ago.

Biting her lip, Aneisha looked up at him and took his hand, squeezing so tight that her knuckles turned white. Her eyes searched his and she exhaled shakily, like she sometimes did when she used too much of her powers at once and she felt so weak that she might collapse, but Tom knew – whether it was a Warrior's sixth sense or just because he simply knew _her, _better than anyone else he'd met in his entire life – that her expression had nothing to do with her skills as a Sorceress.

"I don't want to be the Sorceress anymore," Aneisha said quietly, watching his expression change from concerned to an unusual mix of concern and surprise. With his free hand, he reached up and brushed her hair back so that it curled around her ear, her ebony hair gleaming against her dark skin as she pressed her lips together, turning her face away so she couldn't see him. In truth, she felt ashamed that she didn't want to be who she was anymore – she knew that the Sorceress was a powerful, important piece in the deadly game of angels and demons that had slowly evolved from simply keeping Zoe safe from the things that go bump in the night to keeping all of them safe from the people who hunted the things that go bump in the night.

"Neish," Tom said quietly, grasping her chin and turning her face towards him. He didn't say anything, he just gently stroked his thumb back and forth across her jaw, as if it was the most beautiful and delicate thing he had seen for a very long time. She decided that she liked the way he held her – as if she was precious and deserved to be protected, but also putting the knowledge in motion that she was every bit as strong as he was. She loved him all the more for that.

He glanced between her eyes and her lips quickly before he leaned forward, his hand sliding to the back of her neck as her mouth met his, her strong hands finding his waist. She wrapped one arm around his shoulders to hold him close as she kissed him harder, her other hand slipping underneath the back of his shirt and resting against the skin just above the hem of his jeans. Her skin felt rough and calloused against his skin and he shivered, pulling her as close as he could get her.

Aneisha gasped softly as she ended up lying back on the bed with Tom hovering over her and she broke away from him, cupping his face in her hands as she stared up at him. "Tom."

"Yeah?" He breathed, his hands pressed to the mattress on either side of her shoulders to keep most of his weight off her. He wasn't the same boy he'd been once, with no muscle and no hope in a fight. The curse of the Warrior had made him stronger and more muscular in a ridiculously fast amount of time. They'd all heard the whispers at school of what people thought of him, but after the first few days, he'd just shaken it off.

"I've never . . . I've never done . . ."

"Yeah, me either," Tom replied and she grinned up at him, pulling his mouth back down to hers so that she could kiss him again.


	20. Chapter 20

"Okay," Sky said. "See if you can do it without touching Beth this time."

Zoe nervously looked from the blonde girl sitting in front of her to the other dhampir. Across the room, Dan sat watching, his expression somewhere between intrigued and entertained. Sky was trying to teach Zoe to strengthen her abilities to the point where she could create illusions without needing skin-to-skin contact.

"Do it, Zoe," Sky said, and Zoe reluctantly turned back to Beth, closing her eyes. Beth braced herself for some horrific illusion, but it never came. Instead, Dan made a strangled noise across the room, gripping the arm of his chair so hard that they all heard the creak of the wood inside it breaking.

"Noah?" Dan asked, staring. Abruptly Zoe opened her eyes and turned to him, and the illusion shattered. He flinched as it disappeared and Dan stared at her, his blue eyes wide.

"What did I do?" Frantic, Zoe looked from Dan to Sky. "What did I do?"

Even Sky looked shocked. "I think you made an illusion."

"Did I . . ." Zoe looked back at Dan. "Was it Noah?"

Dan nodded slowly, sitting back against the back of the chair and raking his hands through his hair. "He was older. Like fifteen, maybe."

"What's going on in here?" Aneisha asked, walking in with Tom. Zoe noticed that Aneisha seemed to be sticking close to Tom's side and reading the subject of the Sorceress' thoughts, Sky bit back a grin as Beth filled them in. As she spoke, Malik and Veronica walked in. Malik lounged on the side of Dan's chair, but Dan shoved him off, and the older Morgan brother grinned.

"What's with you?" Zoe asked Malik when Beth had finished speaking. She remembered what Dan had told her about his difficult entrance into the already difficult life of a supernatural being, but she shoved her memories from the previous night away. Thinking about Dan telling her how Malik had been brought into this life wasn't a far leap to the way Dan's lips had felt on her skin, the way his hands had made her forget, just for a little while, all the horrible things she had done.

"I think I know someone who could help you," Malik said, and he looked impossibly proud of himself. It made Aneisha want to punch him. Sure, Sorceress powers were awesome, but nothing beat the release of emotions she got when she punched someone who was pissing her off.

"And?" Beth asked, unamused and irritated.

"An ex-Hunter," Malik said, shoving his hands into pockets and grinning. "And she's more than happy to see you."

* * *

"So how do you even _have _an ex-Hunter?" Zoe asked, glancing between Dan and Beth. She felt uncomfortable, standing beside William Morgan's third child, but Beth hadn't given her any reason not to trust her yet, so she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Dan shrugged. "I figured it was for life."

"It is. There's only one reason that you'd even want to get out of it," Beth replied, peering over the wall the three of them were hiding behind. Across the park, Veronica was perched in a tree several hundred metres opposite Dan, Zoe and Beth, while Sky had perched herself in a tree across from where Tom and Aneisha stood in the middle of their vigil with Malik. Dan would have liked to bring Logan and Matt as well, to cover more of their bases, but Logan was still unstable and Matt had been reluctant to leave him. Ezekiel, on the other hand, had been more than willing to come, and he was crouched high up in a tree behind Aneisha, Tom and Malik.

"And why's that?" Zoe asked, glancing quickly at the group huddled together before she turned back to Beth.

Beth gave Zoe a sharp look and Zoe very nearly snapped at her that she wasn't a child. Finally Beth sighed, looking away. "You fall in love with a vampire."

Dan opened his mouth to say something, but then they all heard footsteps and they shut up, looking up as a woman, about thirty, walked up. She had long, beautiful blonde hair that tumbled down her shoulders in curls and her eyes showed the awareness of a vampire. Zoe stared, and Dan glanced across at her. "Isn't that – "

"Yeah, that's my foster mum," Zoe said quietly.

"Nina," Malik greeted, smiling.

"Malik Morgan," Nina said, pulling him to her and kissing him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"That's not possible," Zoe said, shaking her head.

"Why not?" Beth asked.

"Because I killed her," Zoe said quietly, staring. Then she looked across at Dan, taking in his soft, tender expression before she turned back to Nina and her friends.

"You must not have," Beth said. "Or she already had vampire blood in her system."

"Doesn't sound too unlikely, if she was getting it on with Malik," Dan remarked. Neither of the girls answered, they just watched as Nina stepped away from Malik, turning to Aneisha and Tom.

Nina smiled. "Sorceress."

"How do you – "

"We just do," Nina said. "Now, what do you want to know about the Hunters, Sorceress?"

"How do we beat them?" Aneisha asked. "They want to kill my friends for something that was beyond their control."

"I don't know," Nina said gently. "But I know that it's possible. They're vicious and cruel, but they're not invincible. They can be beaten."

"How?" Tom insisted.

"Are you thick, Warrior?" Nina snapped. "I don't – "

She broke off and Zoe jumped, pressing her cheek into Dan's shoulder as she stared at the wooden stake, as long as the space between her own hips, protruding from Nina's back.

Malik made a strangled noise and then Nina disappeared, replaced by a pile of dust that fell to the ground, the stake landing on top of it. Malik snarled and turned, but then within seconds, he was reduced to a pile of ashes as well.

"Hunters," Dan said, glaring.

"Run!" Beth yelled, jumping over the wall and running forward towards Aneisha and Tom, as did Veronica and Sky. Tom pushed Aneisha behind him as Ezekiel appeared behind Dan and Zoe, tugging them away from the fight unfolding before them.


	21. Chapter 21

Aneisha stared as a man, tall and bulky, wielding a crossbow, stormed up and within seconds, had shot Beth and Veronica into nothing but ashes. She cried out quietly and saw Dan and Zoe standing on top of the building across the street. Sky moved to stand into her side, her brown eyes hard as Ezekiel suddenly appeared, moving to stand beside Tom.

"The only Old One alive," the man said. "How does it feel to know that you are the last of your kind?"

"How does it feel to know I'm going to snap your neck?" Ezekiel hissed back. In response, the man shot at Ezekiel and Sky with his crossbow. Ezekiel yanked the arrow out of the air in front of him, while Sky just yanked the arrow out of her chest - he'd narrowly missed her heart. In front of Aneisha, Tom morphed into a large dark brown wolf and he charged forward, snarling at the Hunter who threatened everything he loved.

"You would be a powerful ally, Sorceress," the man said, before he took off running. Tom started to follow, but Aneisha called him back and he whined, but obediently trotted back to her side as Dan and Zoe appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Silently, Dan walked over to the ashes of his sisters, lying on the ground, and knelt down. He let his head fall forward and Zoe knelt beside him, draping her arm across his shoulders. Eventually, Dan stood up, his expression hard.

"What do we do now?" Aneisha asked.

"We ready ourselves," Dan said. "We weren't ready tonight and they came for us."

"So?"

"We'll be ready," Dan said. "We'll be ready for them."

Zoe looked down at the ashes in front of her, swallowing down tears as she ducked her head.

* * *

Nina, Malik, Veronica and Beth.

All dead.

All because she couldn't handle a Sire Bond.

Zoe and Dan sat in one of the higher branches of a tree above Matt and Tom, watching. Matt was teaching Tom, once again, to hone his powers as a werewolf with Aneisha and Logan sitting on the ground nearby. Aneisha was throwing illusions at Logan of blood and humans and beating hearts, testing his control.

"Are you okay?" Dan asked quietly, brushing Zoe's hair back from her face.

"Nina. Malik. Veronica. Beth. They're all . . . They're all dead, because I couldn't . . . Because I – " Zoe broke off and doubled over, squeezing her stomach as she let out a loud sob. "They're all dead and it's my fault."

"Come 'ere," Dan said, and he drew her to him, holding her close against him. Zoe sobbed against his shoulder. "I don't want anyone else to die because of me."

"They won't," Dan said. "No one's going to die, I promise."

Zoe wanted to believe him as blindingly as she used to, but she couldn't. He wasn't God, he couldn't handle things with just the snap of his fingers. He'd spent the entire time he'd known her protecting her. Now it was her turn.

* * *

That night, while Dan was sleeping, Zoe crawled out of bed and pulled on jeans and a shirt. As she pushed her feet into her boots, Sky walked in and Zoe shoved her out of the room before she could wake up Dan.

"What are you doing?" Sky hissed. "Are you insane?"

"Yes," Zoe replied, shrugging into her jacket.

"You're just going to go and find them?" Sky asked. "Even though they'll kill you?"

"If they have me, they'll leave him alone," Zoe said.

"You don't know that!" Sky hissed. "We're just guessing that they want you. We can't know. They are psychopaths, Zoe."

"I'm willing to take that chance." Zoe said, starting towards Dan.

"What about Dan? What's he supposed to do?" Sky asked.

Zoe turned back, sighing. "He'll have you and Zeke and Tom and Matt and Neish . . . he'll be fine. Eventually he'll get over me and find someone whose very existence doesn't endanger him."

"And what if he doesn't?" Sky asked. "And what about Logan? He needs you."

"Logan?" Zoe laughed bitterly. "I'm hardly Sire material. You and Dan will help him come to terms with what he is and Matt will keep him grounded. You'll be fine. I'm not important."

"You're not . . . Zoe, you're the most important piece in this whole thing."

"I'm not," Zoe said, and Sky saw her shrug briefly before she was gone. Sky stared at the spot that she had occupied for a few more seconds, before she got over her shock and stomped into Dan's room, leaning over him and grabbing his shoulders. She shook him violently until his azure eyes opened and he shoved her away, sitting up. "What the – " he broke off, looking around. "Where's Zoe?"

He looked back at Sky, who stepped back and lowered her eyes. Abruptly, Dan got out of the bed and pulled on a shirt. "Get Logan and Matt. I'll get Zeke."

Nodding, Sky walked out of Dan's room and trudged up the stairs to the attic, knocking on the door loudly before she walked in. Matt and Logan were asleep together on the couch and although Matt remained fast asleep, Logan raised his head groggily. When he saw Sky, he groaned softly and dropped his head back onto Matt's shoulder, effectively waking up the werewolf as he groaned, "Ugh. What do _you _want?"

"Zoe took off," Sky said and Logan sat up abruptly, while Matt just looked between Logan and Sky as the new vampire stared at the Dhampir as if she'd just grown an extra head.

"Logan?" Matt asked, sitting up as Logan got up from the couch, raking his fingers through his hair. "What's going on? Zoe's going to come back. She'll be fine."

"Yeah, I don't think so," Logan said, turning back to Matt.

Matt yawned into his arm. "Why? Where's she gone?"

"She gone to find the Hunters," Sky said.


	22. Chapter 22

Dan pushed open the door to the Jones household and stomped up the stairs, ignoring Aneisha's father as he groggily asked what the hell they were doing while Dan shoved Aneisha's bedroom door open. "Aneisha! Tom! Get up!"

Squealing, Aneisha pulled the covers up to cover herself as Tom glared at Dan, who ignored the Warrior's glare, kicking the end of the bed with a cold, unfeeling look in his azure eyes. The glare disappeared from Tom's eyes and he stared at Dan in disbelief as Aneisha glanced between Dan and the boy beside her, trying to piece together what was going on.

"Dan, what – " Aneisha started, but she broke off when Dan kicked the bed again, so violently that the bed legs scraped against the wooden floor.

"What the hell?" Tom snapped. "Get out!"

"Get the fuck out of bed," Dan muttered, kicking the bed again. "_Now."_

Aneisha groaned, leaning back against the bedhead. "Why? I'm quite comfy right here."

"Zoe went to the Hunters," Sky said from the doorway.

Aneisha stared at her. "Are you serious?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Get out. Let us get dressed."

* * *

Zoe glanced around the darkened alley, taking a deep breath. "Hello? Are you there?"

Someone grabbed the back of her neck, pressing something sharp and metallic into the side of her neck. Zoe whimpered, struggling against the hands that held her. Then, abruptly, the hands holding her turned her around and shoved her into the nearest wall.

Zoe flicked her hair out of her eyes and stared up at the man holding a crossbow in one hand. She immediately recognised him as the man who killed Nina and Dan's siblings and a hate, a fury, stronger than anything she'd ever known, filled her, and she moved towards him, but he slammed her back against the wall, his hand wrapped around her throat.

"You killed her," Zoe wheezed, glaring down at him. She assumed that this was Eddie Carlson, the man that Sky had spoken of, since he was the one who seemed to keep popping up. He looked to be in his early thirties, with wavy brown hair that was as long as his chin. He was wearing black jeans and a black shirt, and underneath his long black jacket, Zoe could see outline of a stake. At the sound of Zoe's voice, Eddie cocked his head and faked an expression of puzzlement.

"Nina," Zoe said. "Malik. Beth. Veronica. You killed them all. In a heartbeat. In _cold blood."_

"As your kind has done to many of mine," Eddie replied, slamming her body back against the wall. "As you did to my daughter."

"That wasn't my fault," Zoe whimpered. "I didn't mean to. My Sire – "

"All that Sire crap is bullshit!" Eddie yelled, grabbing the stake from underneath his jacket and pressing the pointed end against Zoe's throat. At contact, her skin sizzled and burned, and she had to bite her lip to stop from crying out. He must have dipped the end in Holy water.

Zoe glowered down at Eddie through her eyelashes, even as her skin burned. "If you hate my kind so much, why aren't I dead yet?"

Eddie took the stake away from Zoe's neck and drove it into her stomach. Zoe screamed as the stake pierced her skin, and the wood soaked in Holy water burned her, making her insides feel as if they were being ripped apart. Her knees buckled beneath her and Eddie let her fall to the ground, watching as her hands curled around the stake and pulled it out of her stomach. It clattered against the ground, staining the cement crimson.

Whimpering softly in pain and fear, Zoe looked up at Eddie through her hair. Although the stake was gone, the Holy water was still working its way through her system, burning everything it touched.

"Why?" Zoe gasped, her chest heaving.

Silently, Eddie knelt down in front of her as Zoe's eyes followed him cautiously as he picked up the bloodied stake, twirling it in his hands. "Because, as much as I would _love _to kill you, there are some vampires that I want dead more than you. Like your Offspring boyfriend and the Dhampir bitch."

Zoe stared. "Dan and Sky."

"I wasn't aware the soulless bastards named their children," she heard him say, before she finally blacked out from the pain.

* * *

"Why would she even go?" Logan asked. "She knows how dangerous the Hunters are. She knows they'll kill her."

"She thinks she's protecting us," Sky said. She turned to look at her half brother. "Specifically _you_, Dan."

"I don't _need _protecting," Dan snapped, his arms folded over his chest.

"The Hunters have only started paying attention to us because Zoe killed Eddie's daughter," Sky said. "That would bring to their attention that two Old Ones that having recently died. They already know that the Chosen are active. They also know that the original family of vampires is based around here. They've already killed Beth and Malik and Veronica, but Eddie knows that Dan, ultimately, is the one to blame for his daughter's death."

Dan stared. "Jesus Christ."

"What?" Matt looked between Dan and Sky, confusion swimming in his eyes. "What?"

"They won't kill Zoe yet," Dan said. "They'll wait."

"For what?" Logan asked. "What are they waiting for?"

"They want me," Dan said. "They want me, because it's my fault that Eddie's daughter died."

"And they'll want me," Sky said quietly, keeping her eyes down.

"And how do you know that?" Aneisha asked.

"Because they've always wanted me dead!" Sky replied. "They will _always _want me dead, because of their stupid twisted beliefs on what I am."

"And what do they think you are?" Logan asked.

"The goddamn spawn of Satan," Sky replied. She rolled her eyes. "I guess I kind of am."

"That makes two of us," Dan remarked, his mouth curling into a bitter smirk.

"What about me?" Logan asked quietly. "They hate vampires in general. Are they going to kill me too?"

"No," Sky replied. "They don't know you're a vampire. The only ones they aren't going to want for one reason or another is you and your werewolf boyfriend."


	23. Chapter 23

When Zoe woke, she was standing with her hands chained above her head. A dull ache thrummed throughout her entire body, leftover from the quickly diminishing amount of Holy water that remained in her system, although there was a searing pain from the metal that circled her wrists. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around, biting back the impulse to groan. She found that she was in some kind of cell, with more people than she cared to count standing in the corridor in front of it. One both sides of her cell sat identical, empty ones for as far as she could see, and she could see cells on the other side of the corridor that people of different age, gender, and race were gathered in, all staring at her.

Zoe looked up and saw that the skin that came into contact with the shackles around her wrists was red and swollen, broken and bleeding in places. She guessed that the metal used to make them was blessed – Holy water didn't mark the skin like that.

Zoe turned back to eyes of every possible colour that watched her, thirsting for vengeance as she thirsted for blood. "What do you want with me?"

A man stepped forward and Zoe immediately recognised him as Eddie. More than anything, she wanted to kick him in the teeth after she kicked herself, for thinking that it was her alone that he wanted.

"I told you what we want with you," Eddie said, folding his arms over his chest.

"The . . ." Zoe swallowed and met Eddie's eyes unflinchingly. "The Chosen will come for me."

Eddie grinned. "The Sorceress and the Warrior? We'll see about that, Dhampir."

"What makes you say that?" Zoe asked tiredly. Already, she could feel herself slipping into unconsciousness, but she forced herself to stay awake. They must have been pumping something into the ventilation to keep her drowsy.

"The Chosen have always had a deep mistrust for vampires," Eddie said. "Much like the Hunters, except theirs is on more of a subconscious level."

The idea of Tom and Aneisha being anything like these trigger-happy zealots was ludicrous. "They're nothing like you."

Eddie grinned, moving to stand only inches away from her. "Yeah? Well, we'll see about that, Dhampir."

"They'll come for me," Zoe told him, before she finally allowed the approaching darkness to take her, slipping into unconsciousness.

* * *

"This is stupid," Sky said, walking beside Dan. "You realise this is giving them _exactly _what they want, don't you?"

"I'm very much aware of that, Sky," Dan remarked, azure eyes scanning his surroundings.

"_You're _stupid," Sky said back, and Dan just rolled his eyes and kept walking. Hissing through her teeth in annoyance, Sky grabbed his arm and wrenched him to a stop, turning him to face her.

Dan groaned. "Ugh. _What, _Sky?"

Sky frowned at him. "Are you alright, Dan? You seem . . . upset."

"I'm fine," Dan told her, playing with the ring on his finger, watching as the bright sunlight glinted off the stone. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Your brother and two of your sisters have just died and now your girlfriend's willingly walked into a death trap," Sky said. "And you practically tore a rabbit apart feeding. Excuse me if I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine," Dan repeated, walking away from Sky, across the street. "I just want to find Zoe."

"Ignoring what happened isn't going to get Zoe back any quicker," Sky said, falling into step beside him. "Neither is ignoring why they want you."

"We're just assuming things," Dan replied gruffly. "We don't even know they want us at all. All we've got to go on is the words of a dead man, trying to find any way he could to keep himself alive. For all we know, William was lying about the Hunters wanting us and Zoe's getting herself killed for nothing."

As they rounded the corner, they spotted a teenage girl, with dark brown hair twisted into a long braid that hung over one shoulder. She had the sun-kissed skin of a human, but as the wind changed direction both vampires caught the sharp stench of wolf. On the inside of her arm, just below her armpit, Sky saw the tattoo that marked her as a Hunter – the writing in Latin that loosely translated to something about helping the helpless. Sky thought it was a bunch of bullshit that Eddie had stolen from _Angel_, but that didn't change the fact that the Hunters were lethal and dangerous – especially if they had werewolves like this girl at their disposal.

"Offspring. Dhampir," the girl greeted, taking a step forward. "My name is Yelta."

Sky raised an eyebrow but refrained from commenting. She hadn't heard a name like that for a very long time.

"Are you a Hunter, Yelta?" Dan called, and Sky almost slapped him upside the head for his stupidity until she remembered that he hadn't been exposed to the Hunters as much as she had. He wouldn't recognise the tattoo when he saw it.

Slowly, Yelta nodded. "Do you know of the Dhampir girl?"

"Zoe?" Dan asked.

Yelta nodded. "I assume you would like her to live, Offspring boy. Offer yourself, and we will release her."

"_Dan," _Sky hissed. "Don't. It's a trick. We'll get Zoe back some other way."

"How do we know they won't kill her if I don't come now?" Dan hissed, and then he turned to Yelta. "How do we know we can trust you?"

Yelta grinned, as if this was exactly the question she was waiting for. "You don't."

She snapped her fingers, and suddenly Dan and Sky found themselves surrounded by Hunters, crossbows ready to fire. There were so many of them, more than either of the vampires could bother to count, that if either of them made a wrong move, they'd be dead before they could even move to snap a single neck.

Looking around for an escape route, Dan looked around, his heart sinking like lead in his chest. "Oh, shit."


	24. Chapter 24

Aneisha was only half-listening as Matt explained something about werewolves to Tom and Logan dozed beside him, his head resting against the werewolf's shoulder, when Ezekiel Morgan walked in, his dark eyes sweeping the room in the space of a second before he turned to Aneisha. "Where's Dan and Sky?"

"They went out to look for clues as to where the Hunters took Zoe," Tom said, sitting back in his chair.

Aneisha stretched like a cat, her deep brown eyes worried. "They should have been back ages ago."

Tom turned his head to look at her. "Neish – "

He broke off as he heard rattling at the front door and then Ezekiel stalked off. Logan started awake as the front door slammed, sapphire eyes darting around quickly until Ezekiel returned, dragging a teenage boy with one hand and holding a piece of paper in the other.

"_Let's see how strong you are, Chosen One," _Ezekiel read, before he crumpled up the piece of paper and turned to the boy whose arm was clenched tightly in his hand. With his now free hand, he pushed the boy's jacket back and off his shoulder, exposing the Latin script stamped in black on the inside of his upper arm.

"Hunter," Ezekiel hissed, as the boy glared up at him and pulled his jacket back into place.

"Not just that," Matt said, getting to his feet and moving towards the boy. "Werewolf."

The boy hissed, pulling out of Ezekiel's grasp, but Matt was ready, flattening his hands against the boy's collarbone and shoving him against the wall. The boy started to push back, but then Matt's eyes flashed silver and the boy sagged against the wall, recognising the influence of an alpha.

"Who are you?" Matt snarled, and there was a deep and guttural, almost animalistic quality to his voice.

"My name is Miles," the boy replied reluctantly. "I am a part of the Hunters' werewolf division."

Matt closed his hand around Miles' shoulder. "What _are _the Hunters, exactly?"

Miles' eyes flickered nervously between Matt and Logan and Ezekiel. Matt moved his hand so that his fingertips hovered over Miles' Adam's apple. Although he would heal, it would hurt like hell if he shoved his claws through the younger wolf's oesophagus. He'd guessed that Miles was a bitten werewolf, and new as well, unsure of his own strengthening and intensifying emotions.

Gulping, Miles started to speak. "Originally, we were part of the secret service and we went by the name MI17. Then, when Eddie's grandfather took over, we separated ourselves from the rest of the service and changed our name to The Hunters."

Logan moved so he was standing right behind Matt. "But werewolves . . . that's new, isn't it?"

Swallowing, Miles looked back at Matt, pushing his almost-black brown hair out of his eyes with a shaking hand. "Eddie thought it would be a good idea to use our kind, so he has a small division of us ready for whenever he needs to inflict pain on a sucker."

"Sucker?" Logan asked, looking over his shoulder at Tom before he looked back at Miles.

"Short for blood-sucker," Ezekiel provided. "Hunter slang."

Matt shoved Miles back into the wall. "Where are you keeping them?"

Miles grew a backbone then, his dark eyes hardening as he realised that they truly needed something from him. He pushed Matt back a few steps, his mouth curling. "Why should I tell _you? _We're supposed to hate the suckers, but you've become corrupted. You _side _with them. You _date _one."

Matt's mouth set into a hard line and he shoved Miles back a few steps. "You don't know anything about me." When Miles didn't answer, Matt's nails sharpened into claws and he stabbed them into Miles' shoulder. Miles cried out as Matt yanked his claws out, his chest heaving as he glared at the older werewolf.

"Where are they?" Matt shouted, grabbing Miles by the collar of his shirt and slamming him against the wall. "Tell me!"

"I don't know!" Miles shouted, pushing Matt away.

"You have to know something!" Matt yelled, clamping his hand around the junction between Miles' neck and shoulder and the younger werewolf squirmed, whimpering a little.

"There . . . There was a woman," Miles gasped. "She came and told us of the viscous redhead and her allies."

"This woman," Aneisha said, appearing beside Matt. "What was her name?"

Miles shrugged, and then winced as pain shot through his body at the movement. "I only saw her."

"Describe her," Aneisha ordered, and the description he gave them made her heart sink fast inside her chest.

* * *

Zoe opened her eyes to a commotion and watched with wide eyes as two vampires, one a blonde boy and the other a brunette girl, were marched past her and shoved into the cells on her right. The drugs the Hunters were using to regulate her sleep had left her so lethargic that at first, she didn't recognise the two of them, but then the boy's eyes caught hers as he was marched into the cell next to her own and she stared at him, hating the chains that bound her more than ever. "Dan? Wh . . . What are you doing here?"

Dan's mouth curled lightly as a girl with a long brown braid shoved him down into the corner and then locked him in. "Hey, Zo."

"Wh – "

"Don't ask," Sky called from her cell on the other side of Dan's. "Basically, your boyfriend's an idiot, London."

Zoe turned her attention from Sky back to Dan, studying him, hating the dried trail of blood that started at his temple and finished at his jaw. He was breathing hard and she could see a slowly healing patch of skin against the collar of his shirt, see the blood that stained the blue material. By the looks of things, they'd managed to splash some Holy water on him. A lump in her throat, she remembered the last time she'd seen him, his face open and slack as he slept. "I'm sorry."

His eyes were all sapphire and azure and the ocean blue as he looked up at her. "I know, Zoe. I know."


	25. Chapter 25

"Frank!" Aneisha yelled, storming into HQ with Tom, Logan and Matt right behind her. "Frank, where the _hell _is your bitch of a girlfriend?"

Frank walked out, his eyes sweeping across Logan and Matt before they rested on Aneisha. "What's going on? What are you talking about?"

"Your _beloved girlfriend _sold Dan and Zoe out to the Hunters," Aneisha said, her eyes dark with anger.

"No, she wouldn't – " Frank started.

"Really?" Tom snapped. "Has anyone _seen _Stella since she walked in on Zoe bloody and tied to a chair?"

Frank sighed, sinking into a chair and leaning his head into his hand as he sighed, almost as if in defeat. "No. No one has."

"One kid has," Logan said, bringing Frank's attention to him. He seemed stronger, Matt noticed. Having something to focus on outside of himself was helping. "A werewolf kid named Miles. He saw Stella talking to the leader of the Hunters."

"How would she even know about them?" Frank asked. "I thought they operated in secret."

"They do," Matt replied. "But apparently they used to – "

"MI18," Frank murmured. "Of _course._ Stella would have access to them. I don't understand why – "

"She was scared, Frank." Aneisha said quietly. "She was scared of what she didn't understand."

* * *

"Stella," Frank said, walking into the dark-haired woman's office with Tom and Aneisha right behind him. "We need to talk."

"Oh, sure, Come on in, no, it's no problem, I was just doing some very important paperwork," Stella said sarcastically, sitting back in her chair.

"Don't mind if we do," Matt said, walking into the room with Logan at his side. Stella stared at the two of them with wide eyes, her eyes practically bugging out of their sockets as she stared at them.

"Who are _you_?" Stella asked.

"You just _have _to know everything about everything, don't you, traitor?" Matt said easily, pulling up a chair and sitting down. His tone was light enough, but there was an underlying anger that made him seem almost unhinged.

Stella's eyes grew wary and she looked from Matt to Frank. "What are they talking about?"

It was Tom who spoke, folding his arms across his chest. "We know that you told the Hunters about Dan and Zoe."

Stella's face was devoid of emotion. "Dan and Zoe are gone, with nothing but demonic shells left in their places."

"They're still Dan and Zoe!" Aneisha yelled. "They're the same people they always were and you handed them over to the Hunters!"

"Leave it, Sorceress," Matt said, leaning forward. "The Hunters got to her. She can't help us."

"Yeah, okay," Aneisha said quietly. Matt got up from his seat and they all started to walk out, but stopped when Stella said, "Wait."

Aneisha turned. "What?"

"I can tell you where they are," Stella said.

Aneisha exchanged a glance with Tom, and he stepped forward. She saw the muscles underneath his shirt move as he said, "Tell me where."

* * *

"Two Dhampirs and an Offspring," Eddie said, standing in front of Dan's cell. "Many Hunters have lived and died without ever seeing any of your kind."

"Won't you be lucky then, to get to kill off every Offspring in existence," Dan said bitterly, glaring at Eddie.

"Won't I be a prize then?" Zoe asked bitterly, swinging her legs back and forth through the empty air between her feet and the floor. Dan cast her a worried look as her skin brushed against her metal shackles. "To kill a Second Generation Dhampir. Aren't we rare, or something?"

"Incredibly," Eddie agreed, opening the door to her cell and walking towards her. Zoe's eyes followed his movements warily as he walked towards her. He reached out and placed his fingertips on Zoe's cheek and she threw her head back, crying out as pain laced through her body from her cheek.

Eddie took his hand away from Zoe's cheek, smiling, as she collapsed, bowing her head as she gasped. Dan watched, his eyes flickering anxiously between Zoe and Eddie, as Zoe slowly healed and then raised her head. "Are you going to kill us now?"

Eddie smiled maliciously, reaching up to undo Zoe's shackles. Zoe gasped as she fell to the hard stone floor, looking up at Eddie through her hair as he knelt down in front of her, his fingertips hovering just in front of her face. "Holy water, Dhampir. I've spent the last twelve years bathing in the stuff. My skin _burns _to the touch of vampires."

Zoe stared at him as he got up as walked out, leaving her to breathe slowly in and out while her wrists healed from the abuse of her shackles. She watched as her skin slowly knitted together and healed, and looked up when she felt something brush her hair back from her face. Her eyes caught Dan's as he retracted his hand back into his own cell, curling around one of the bars separating him from her. He looked down at her still healing wrists and then back up at her, a silent question in his eyes.

"The metal in the shackles was blessed," Zoe said, leaning her head against the cell wall. She felt tired, more tired than she could ever remember being, but more than that, she didn't want to die. She wished more than anything that the others knew where they were.

* * *

"So we know from Stella that the Hunters are keeping them in a – " Aneisha broke off as Logan groaned quietly, ducking his head and gripping the back of his neck.

"Logan!" Matt yelled, getting to his feet and moving towards the vampire.

"It hurts," Logan cried. "My wrists hurt. My cheek hurts. He – "

"Matthew, move," Aneisha said, shoving Matt out of the way and pressing the tips of her fingers to Logan's forehead. As soon as she touched his cooler skin, he stopped groaning, leaning against his knees. After a few more moments, she straightened up. "I know where they are."

"Where?" Tom asked eagerly.

"Stella thought it was an old warehouse, but she was wrong," Aneisha replied. "It's somewhere else. Somewhere we've been before. Somewhere we thought was destroyed."

"Sternum?" Tom asked, his brown eyes alight with excitement and agitation.

"Sternum," Aneisha replied, smiling at him just a little.


	26. Chapter 26

It was the pain that came first, like razorblades.

It seemed to cut through his throat like knives, making each breath a living hell.

Coughing, Dan looked between Zoe and Sky, both hunched around themselves. Zoe's hands looked impossibly pale against her bright red hair. Her wrists had healed, and there were red smudges across her skin from where she'd scrubbed at the dried blood to get it off her skin as much as she could.

Coughing violently, Zoe raised her head to look at Dan, her eyes filled with pain and fear as her body shook, her face streaked with tears. "Dan . . . Dan, it hurts. What's happening?"

"Holy water," Sky groaned from her own cell between coughs. "They're boiling it and putting it through the ventilation system. It'll either kill us or – "

Dan coughed into his hand, his eyes widening at the crimson blood he found on his skin before he wiped it onto his dirty and torn jeans. "Or what?"

The Holy water didn't seem to be affecting Sky the way it was affecting Dan and Zoe. It was just making her weak, instead of making her cough up blood and feel like she was breathing razorblades. "I heard a rumour . . . that if Holy water was boiled and a vampire breathed it in for any length of time, they would be restored to how they were before they were made a vampire."

"So it's either a cure, or it'll kill us," Dan wheezed, turning to look at Zoe. Zoe's head was leaning against the bars of her cell, her eyes peering at him through her hair. He could see that there was no hope in those eyes of hers, only pain. With a weak hand smeared with crimson, he reached out through the bars and put his hand on her cheek, brushing his thumb back and forth across her cheekbone as her eyes filled with tears, blurring the green and the white.

"Hey," Dan said quietly, his own eyes stinging with tears as he turned his head and coughed up some more blood before turning back to Zoe. "We're going to be okay, all right? We always are. They'll come for us, Zo."

Zoe ducked her head and coughed violently, her body heaving in pain. "It hurts."

"I know," Dan said, leaning his head against the bars. "I know it does. Just hang on, Zo."

"Fifteen years," Zoe wheezed. "I spent fifteen years in SKUL, only to have _steam _be my downfall."

"It's not," Dan said, taking her face in his hands. "It won't. You're too strong for that. Use that strength. Fight."

"It hurts," Zoe sobbed. "It hurts."

He held her as close as he could through the bars. "I love you."

Zoe sobbed harder, holding her stomach as pain coursed through her whole body and she screamed out in pain.

* * *

"So what was that?" Tom asked as Aneisha pulled out a samurai sword from the Chosen Warrior's bag of weapons and unsheathed it, inspecting it carefully.

"It was a vision," Aneisha replied, sheathing the sword again and placing it on the table before she grabbed a short dagger. "From Zoe. Like the ones she used to use to distract Dan."

"Are they alright?"

Aneisha sighed, setting the dagger down and turning to face him. "No. There was pain. So much pain. It was like breathing in knives. It _hurt_. It really hurt."

"What do you think it was?" Tom asked quietly, his eyes on her.

"Holy water," Ezekiel replied, walking into the room. "They must have boiled it and be sending the steam through the ventilation system."

"Will they be okay?" Aneisha asked.

"Maybe," Ezekiel said evasively. "We need to hurry or they're all going to die."

"What can we do?" Logan asked, walking in with Matt.

"Nothing," Aneisha said as Tom picked up the samurai sword and she tightened her grip on the dagger. "Me and Tom are the only ones going."

Logan looked enraged. "_What? _I'm the one she sent the vision to – "

"You only got that vision because she's your Sire," Aneisha snapped. "Because your mind is on the same telepathic wavelength as yours. That's the only reason you got that vision. I doubt she even meant to do it."

"But – "

"If they're pumping Holy water through the ventilation," Ezekiel said, "then anyone vampiric will be put in danger along with Daniel, Skylar and Zoe. Only those that are alive can go without risking their lives."

"So only me and Tom are going," Aneisha said. "Because we're the only ones who can go."

"That's not entirely true," Matt said from his spot against the wall.

Aneisha groaned in annoyance. "What _now_, werewolf?"

"I'm technically alive," Matt said. "I'm a werewolf, not a vampire. I'll be fine."

"The Hunters could still kill you," Logan said.

"I'll be fine," Matt told him, putting his hand on the vampire's cool cheek. "I promise. We'll be out of there and back before you know it."

Logan covered Matt's hand with his own. "You promise?"

"I promise."

Aneisha's mouth twisted into a smirk and she picked up a short sword, throwing it at Matt. "Catch, Wolf Boy."

Grinning, Matt turned and caught the short sword easily in one hand. "Let's do this."

* * *

Zoe had been slipping in and out of consciousness, coughing up blood and pain and tears, for the past several hours as Holy water continued to seep through the ventilation, burning her throat and making her eyes sting. It was starting to make her hallucinate as well – she kept hearing a drumbeat that sounded oddly like footsteps, like running and adrenaline, and voices that sounded like Matt, Tom and Aneisha.

Sky had passed out ages ago, but Dan raised his head wearily. "That sounds like . . ."

"No way," Zoe wheezed. "You hear that too?"

"Yeah," Dan coughed. His mouth was smudged with his own blood, and his hands were smudged with crimson all the way up to his wrists. "That sounds like Neish and Tom."

"They're here," Zoe wheezed, and despite their condition, she managed to share a grin with Dan.


	27. Chapter 27

Aneisha looked up at the building she never once thought she'd find herself at again. The Sternum building was charred and looked to be in ruins, so much so that it looked uninhabitable. Apparently it was, so much so that the Hunters had decided to use this place as their base.

"Well that's a sight I never thought I'd have the _pleasure _of seeing again," Tom remarked, staring up at the building.

"So what's the big deal with this place?" Matt asked, glancing over at Tom and Aneisha. "It's a burned down building. I don't even know _how _the Hunters are supposed to be living in this place. Why do you two look like this place is the embodiment of all your worst nightmares?"

"Because it practically is," Tom replied, his hand finding the handle of the sword strapped to his belt.

"Come on," Aneisha said. "Let's go and rescue some vampires."

Tom nodded and Matt growled low into his throat, the bones in his body bending and breaking and shifting until a large brown wolf with silver eyes stood in his place.

As soon as they entered the building, they were greeted by a horde of Hunters, all bearing the tattoo that Miles had worn on his skin. Matt jumped into the fray, snapping at two Hunters as Tom unsheathed his sword, swinging his sword at another two Hunters. Aneisha watched for another few moments, admiring the easy, effortless way that the Chosen Warrior handled the sword, turning it easily in his hands, before five Hunters rushed towards her. She fought, using a small dagger as her only weapon, but she conjured up illusions as she did so, making the Hunters think the blade cut deeper than it actually did, making them believe it was coated in poison so that they fell to the ground, screaming in an agony that did not exist.

Eventually they stood in an empty room, surrounded by either unconscious or dead Hunters.

"Are you alright?" Tom asked, wiping blood off of the blade of his sword.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Aneisha said, raking her hands through her hair. "Let's go."

They moved into the process and were immediately greeted by five Hunters running towards them. Aneisha sent an invisible wall of energy towards them, sending the five men flying back into the far wall. They all slumped against the wall, unconscious, and Aneisha led them through into the next room.

"The Chosen Sorceress," a voice said from the middle of the room. Aneisha looked to see Eddie and found the room they were standing in was the same one that Steinberg and the Crime Minister had tried to turn Zoe into the Mastermind in. All the machinery in the room was charred and in pieces, and the pedestal that had plagued Zoe's nightmares for so many weeks. In front of it, Eddie stood, his hair loose around his face and his eyes cold.

Matt growled, raising his haunches, and Tom raised his sword.

"Where are they?" Aneisha cried. "Where are Dan and Zoe and Sky?"

"Do you mean the Spawns of Satan?" Eddie asked, grinning.

"They have names!" Aneisha yelled. "They're not the Spawns of Satan! They're people! They're my friends!"

"_You_ are the Sorceress!" Eddie roared. "You are supposed to protect us from the leeches, but yet you side with them! You are a traitor against your own kind!"

"_No_," Aneisha said darkly, her voice thrumming with the power of every Chosen Sorceress before her. "_You are the traitor against our kind, Eddie Carlson. What separates us from the vampires is our humanity. You clearly have none, if you have resorted to murdering and torturing people over something that was out of their control."_

"I don't – "

Aneisha didn't say any more, but her eyes turned the colour of onyx. Eddie screamed and Aneisha watched as Eddie's body convulsed, the way that Matt's and Tom's did when they Changed from human beings into impossibly large wolves. The loud sound of hundreds of bones cracking at the same time filled the still air, and then Eddie collapsed on the ground, every bone in his body bent at odd, unnatural angles.

Aneisha stared at him, watching until the black faded from her eyes and then she was no longer staring at the man who was trying to murder her friends, the man who she'd defeated. Now she was staring at the mangled corpse of the man she'd killed.

"Oh my God," she said, covering her mouth with her hand. Tom touched her elbow, his eyes soft and gently, even as he tugged her forward roughly. "Neish, come on. We need to keep moving."

"I killed him," she said quietly.

"He would have killed you," Tom replied gruffly, kicking open the door. He'd never tell her it, but he would have much rather see Eddie dead than Aneisha.

Tom grunted quietly as he tugged Aneisha through the door, Matt on his heels, and they looked around.

They were no longer standing in a room.

They were standing in a corridor, and on both sides of them sat cells.

Aneisha looked around. The cells went on further than she could see, there were more than she could count, but a few hundred metres down, she could see three bodies in three adjoining cells. In the one closest to her, she could see a brunette girl lying on the floor, in the middle one a blonde boy sat slumped against the far back corner of his cell, and in the far one, a redheaded girl sat beside him, with only the bars between their cells separating them.

"Zoe!" Aneisha shouted, running to the farthest of the three cells and breaking the lock on the door. She knelt in front of Zoe. Zoe wasn't moving, her breathing shallow, but her skin was more flushed than Aneisha had seen it since the redheaded girl had died. Taking a deep breath, Aneisha closed her eyes and when she opened them, she could see the invisible flares of colour that surrounded every being.

"No way," Aneisha breathed after a moment, pushing back her ability to read and see auras.

"What?" Tom asked, as Matt turned back into a human being and unlocked Dan's cage, kneeling in front of the Offspring.

"The shadows," Aneisha said quietly, looking over at Dan and Sky. "The shadows around their auras – all their auras . . . they're gone."

Matt looked between Dan and Aneisha, confused. "So, what does that mean?"

Aneisha stood up, moving into Tom's side. "It means that somehow . . . breathing in all that holy water . . . it didn't kill them. It cured them. Their greatest pain was their salvation."


	28. Chapter 28

Dan woke up slowly, like surfacing from underwater. Every part of his body hurt, and it took him a long time, too long, to find the muscles to open his eyes and when he finally opened his eyes, he found that he was staring up at an unfamiliar stone ceiling. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was or what was going on, but then he remembered – remembered the pain and fear and grief of watching Zoe struggle to keep herself alive.

"Zoe!" He cried, sitting up. He looked around, but a pair of hands pressed down on his shoulders, keeping him down. He looked to see Matt kneeling in front of him, his mouth pressed into a hard line.

"Where's Zoe?" Dan asked, looking around. He tried to get up again, but Matt pushed him down again.

"Wait," Matt said. "There's something you need to know first."

"I don't care!" Dan yelled. "Let me – "

"Shut up and listen!" Matt shouted, pushing Dan back into the wall. Dan groaned, but he shut up, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

"You're heart's beating," Matt said quietly, and Dan stared at him as if the werewolf had grown two heads as he slowly raised his hand and then pressed two fingers into the side of his neck. He continued to stare for a few moments before the blonde boy's hand dropped against his thigh and he leaned back against the wall, his azure eyes staring into nothing. "My heart's beating. I'm alive." His eyes refocused and he looked at Matt. "Am I - ?"

Matt was grinning, his brown eyes alight. "You're human, Vampire Boy."

Laughing, Dan embraced the werewolf. When he pulled away, he remembered fully what had happened – he remembered that the Hunters had pumped holy water through the ventilation and because of that, his heart was now beating and he was breathing, not because it was simply what his body was used to doing, but because he needed the air, needed the oxygen.

Dan looked to his right and saw Zoe lying on the floor in her own cell, her auburn hair creating a halo around her head. Pushing Matt out of the way, Dan jumped to his feet and ran out of his cell and into Zoe's, falling to the floor in front of her beside Aneisha.

As if she sensed he was there, Zoe turned her head and slowly opened her eyes, looking up at him. His mouth curved slightly and he put his hand on her cheek, his skin crimson against the fair – but flushed – pallor of her own skin.

"Dan?" Zoe asked, and her voice croaked a little, but she sat up, looking around. "What's going on?"

"This," he breathed, taking both her hands and pressing them against her chest, over her heart. Zoe stared at him; her eyes puzzled as she reached up and placed her hand on the side of his hand. She stared into his eyes for a long time until her own widened and she took her hand, pressing it against the side of her neck. As he watched, she laughed and took his face in her hands, her eyes alight with happiness and life.

"We're alive!" Zoe cried happily, and then she kissed him, her mouth hard and warm and passionate against his own. He smiled against her lips, sliding his hands around her waist to rest against her back.

"We're alive," Zoe breathed when they broke apart, sliding one hand down his neck and across his shoulder, her skin burning with warmth as she brushed her hand down his arm.

"Ye – " Dan cut himself off, staring at the wall next to Zoe's head. "Sky."

He untangled himself from Zoe's arms and jumped to his feet, running out of Zoe's cell and stumbling into Sky's. He fell to the ground beside Sky, who was still lying on the floor. Her skin looked an odd colour – like someone who had tanned skin and had then gotten chronically sick with an illness that had taken her a long time to recover from. Against the brown of her hair, her skin looked too white, too pale.

"Dan – " Zoe said, clinging to the door of the cell and Dan looked at her sadly over his shoulder before he looked back at Sky. Slowly, Sky opened her eyes, looking up at him. She slowly took in his expression, took in the lightly tanned pallor of his skin, and she smiled almost deliriously. "It worked. You're alive." She looked past him at Zoe, standing against the door with Aneisha, Tom and Matt gathered behind her. "You're both alive."

Dan closed his hands around one of Sky's, squeezing as tightly as his newly human, feeble fingers would allow. "You're sick. What can I do?"

Sky laughed, and her mouth was wet with blood as she put her free hand on his cheek. "There's nothing you can do, brother."

"There must be _something _– "

"I'm nine hundred years old, Daniel," Sky said gently. "Humans don't live that long. I'm dying."

Dan stared down at her as her hand dropped from his cheek, falling limply against her stomach. "No, you can't. Sky, after Malik and Veronica and Beth . . ."

"You'll be fine," Sky told him, and then turned her head to the side to cough, her body shaking violently. When she turned back, her eyes were more tired and she looked sicker than before. Her mouth was smudged with blood. "You've got Zoe and Matt and Aneisha and Zeke – " She broke off, turning to the side and coughing again, although this time, she didn't turn back when she'd finished. She just laid there, too still to be even breathing, and Dan sat there, staring at her and too afraid to turn her over, too afraid of what he'd see.

Finally he broke, ducking his head and pressing his forehead to his knees as he sobbed loudly. Zoe moved away from the door, kneeling beside him and putting her arm across his shoulders. Dan rested his head against her thigh and fisted his hands against her waist, his body shaking with grief. Zoe didn't say anything, she just held him as he sobbed, his body warm against her own.


	29. Chapter 29

Logan and Ezekiel looked up when they walked in. Dan's face was streaked with tears and Matt and Tom were carrying Sky's body between them. Aneisha was practically carrying Zoe, who was still too weak to walk very far on her own, and she eased Zoe down into the couch as Matt and Tom lowered Sky's body to the ground. Dan sat down beside Zoe and refused to look at Sky, simply staring at his hands, clasped between his knees.

"What happened to the Hunters?" Logan asked, raising his hand to glide across the back of Matt's shoulder as the werewolf sat beside him.

"I imagine what's left of them will disband into vigilante vampire hunters," Matt said quietly.

"Why?" Logan asked. "What happened to Eddie?"

Aneisha looked down. "He's dead."

"What?" Ezekiel asked, looking between them all.

"I killed him," Aneisha said, tears burning her eyes. "He's not going to hurt us anymore."

Swallowing, Zoe got up from her spot on the couch and shakily made her way across the room towards Aneisha, hugging her tightly. Biting back tears and memories of Eddie Carlson's body breaking apart, she hugged her back. Zoe was physically weak and could barely stand on her own, but Aneisha clung to her as if the redheaded girl was the only thing that kept her standing. Zoe understood the pain and guilt that came from taking another person's life.

Behind Zoe, Dan laughed bitterly, humourlessly. "That's funny."

Aneisha looked up. "What can you possibly find funny about this?"

"You killed in the name of vampires," Dan replied, and his grin held no humour. "Soulless, bloodsucking monsters."

"No," Aneisha said, pulling away from Zoe. Her eyes were full of that fierce determination that Tom had first fallen in love with, and he smiled lightly. "No, I killed to protect my friends."

Dan looked bitter as he turned to look at her. "That didn't help Sky, though, did it?"

"What happened to Sky?" Logan asked. "What happened to all of you? I can hear you. You have heartbeats. You didn't have those before."

"They put holy water through the ventilation system," Dan said. "Because Zoe's seventeen and I'm eighteen, we're old enough that we're still within the time of a human lifetime. Sky wasn't. She was too old and she died."

* * *

Later, Zoe was on the Morgans' back porch, and listening and watching. She was curled up on the seat that Katarina had bought for next to nothing and she bit her lip, thinking of everyone who had died since that fateful camping trip that seemed like a thousand years ago, but in reality was only six months ago.

Zoe looked up as the door opened and Dan walked out. He barely seemed to notice her, leaning against the railing and bowing his head.

"Dan?" Zoe asked quietly, raising her body a little. Dan didn't answer, but he sighed, tipping his head back to look up at the ceiling. Zoe got up from her spot on the chair and walked to stand beside him, her catlike green eyes watching him. "Are you alright?"

"Sky," Dan breathed. "Sky's dead. Beth's dead. Veronica. Malik. Nina. They're all – " he broke off and ducked his head again.

"I'm sorry," Zoe said quietly.

Dan looked across at her. "What are you sorry for?"

Zoe gaped at him for a moment before she started to speak, but she still sounded unsure, like she didn't know whether it was the right answer or not. "I . . . I went and sought out Eddie. If I hadn't, maybe . . . maybe Sky would still be alive."

Dan straightened up, his blue eyes watching her carefully. "But you'd still be_ un_dead, Zoe." He turned to her and grabbed her wrist, pressing her palm flat against his chest. Although only faintly, she could feel his heartbeat against her fingertips and she ducked her head, letting her hair fall forward to conceal her face from him.

"Sky's dead," Zoe said quietly. "And it's my fault."

"No," Dan said, tilting her chin up so she would look at him. "No, Sky's dead because Eddie killed her. It had nothing to do with you."

"But Dan – "

He kissed her to silence her, his hand sliding down her side to hold her to him. He tasted tears and he pulled back a little to see silent tears sliding down her cheeks and he brushed his thumb underneath her right eye, wiping her tears away.

Zoe dropped her head against his shoulder. "Nina's gone. I've got nowhere – "

"You can live here," Dan told her, kissing the top of her head. "Zeke won't have any issues with it."

Zoe looked up at him. "Are you – "

"Zeke!" Dan yelled.

"Yes, she can live with us!" Ezekiel Morgan's voice carried in from inside the house before Dan could ask and Dan turned his head back to grin at her and she smiled up at him, putting her hand on his cheek.

"Thank you," she breathed and he nodded, ducking his head and pressing his mouth to hers. Zoe slid her hand up and into his hair and Dan squeezed her hips in his hands. Although he was nowhere as strong as he once was, he still felt strong – stronger than any human should be.

When Zoe's mouth left his, she turned in his arms so that her back was against his chest and he dropped his head, kissing her shoulder. They stood like that for a long time, Zoe staring out at the clear night, noticing that although she was human – her heart beating in her chest was constant proof of that, along with the desperate need for air that emerged whenever she held her breath – she was stronger and could see much better than before, when she was human before she died.

"It feels different this time," Zoe said quietly.

"We're stronger," Dan agreed quietly. "I think our abilities from when we were undead were carried over when we changed back – to a lesser extent than they were before. I don't think that'll ever go away."

Zoe looked down. "I don't . . . I don't think I can go back to MI9."

"No one's – "

"That's not what I meant," Zoe told him. "I don't think I can. After everything, protecting the country from people who want to steal _data _feels like doing nothing, after feeling and experiencing the kind of power and damage that vampires can do. It's obvious that Tom and Aneisha won't be going back."

Dan sighed quietly. "Does the fact that it was Stella who sold us out have anything to do with this?"

"A little, but only a minor part," Zoe said, turning so she could see him. She put her hands on the sides of his neck, looking up at him. "This is what I want."

"So you want to become a vigilante vampire hunter?" Dan asked.

Zoe nodded, her mouth curling slightly. "One who only hunts the bad ones."

Dan laughed. "Of course. Well, I'm in it with you. I'll quit and we'll do this together."

"Are you sure?"

Dan kissed her, his hands sliding around her back. "Definitely. You're stuck with me, London."

Zoe played with the necklace that still hung around her neck and smiled. "And you're stuck with me, Daniel Morgan."


	30. Epilogue

**So this is the epilogue. This is it. Personally, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to write for the epilogue for this, but I knew I had to write _an _epilogue because I knew that within the constraints of this story, there was still ends that - kind of - still needed to be tied up. Honestly, I don't feel like it's completely tied up, but I'll let you guys be the judges of that. I just want to thank you guys for all your support over the whole series. There were so many new things that I did with this series as a whole that I haven't done before - doing a completely supernatural storyline, adding gay characters (actually, adding characters in general, because I'm pretty sure that _Thirst _was the first time I really started using OC's). Thank you, all of you, so so so much. **

**Epilogue**

**Four Years Later**

"Zoe!" Dan shouted, flattening himself against the wall. From several hundred metres away, Zoe threw Dan a gun and he easily caught it, swinging his body to the side so that he came to face the three-hundred-year-old vampire, his wavy blonde hair touching his chin. At least, Dan thought it was supposed to be blonde. It was so matted with the dried blood of his victims that it had turned a rusty dark brown colour. Between that and the evidence of his raging Thirst visible on the vampire's face, he would have made a terrifying sight, if Dan had not been exposed to vampires so much for as long as he could remember. It still shocked Zoe and Aneisha a little bit sometimes, but Tom . . . Tom was a werewolf. Even if he wasn't aware of it, his natural instinct was to hate and expect the worst of vampires.

The vampire, who called himself Damian, snarled at Dan and Dan shot him in the leg. The bullet was wooden and soaked in holy water, and Dan grinned, watching as Damian's leg bucked beneath him. Zoe seemed to appear out of nowhere, sweeping Damian's feet out from under him and pinning him to the ground. Zoe drew a knife from her jacket and stabbed it into Damian's stomach and the vampire screamed out in pain. Zoe started to jump back, but Damian grabbed her arm with one hand, the other tracing the shape of her jaw. "Pretty, aren't you? Too pretty to be a hunter?"

The vampire's mouth was nearing her neck and Zoe set her mouth into a hard line, pulling the knife out of Damian's stomach and driving it through his throat. He let go of her and Zoe jumped back, watching as he pulled the knife and dropped it, glaring up at her as his throat healed.

"You little bitch – " Damian started, getting to his feet and lunging towards Zoe. Dan got in his way, intercepting Damian and slamming him into the floor using only his hand against the vampire's chest.

"Offspring," Damian gasped, staring up at Dan. Daniel Morgan was no longer the teenage boy he once was, with an inheritance he didn't want. At 21, Dan Morgan was a strong and capable young man that put William and Katarina Morgan to shame. He had turned out nothing like his father and mother, but more like Ezekiel Morgan instead, with a pure heart that was filled with nothing but love for Zoe London.

"Not anymore," Dan told Damian, gritting his teeth as he shot a round into Damian's stomach. Damian lifted a hand to start to dig them out, but then he paused, staring at something behind Zoe. Dan stood and watched as a large wolf with a mark on the inside of his ear stalked towards Damian, his lips pulled back from his teeth.

"Werewolf," Damian gasped, and then he noticed Tom's mark. "Chosen Warrior."

Tom growled in recognition as Aneisha walked up, her eyes blazing. "Damian."

"Sorceress," Damian replied quietly.

Aneisha regarded him coldly. "Do you know why I'm here?"

"I killed people."

"But I'm not going to kill you," Aneisha said. She looked at Zoe and Zoe smiled grimly, pulling out an arrow from the quiver strapped to her back. Damian started to get up, but Dan stepped on his right arm and Tom put his front paws on Damian's stomach. Aneisha made a quick gesture with her hand and Damian found himself pinned to the ground, completely immobile and unable to move.

Zoe struck before she could make herself stop, driving the wooden arrow through the vampire's heart. She stepped back, watching as Damian exploded into nothing but dust. Taking a deep breath, Zoe stepped back and Dan stepped towards her, putting his hand on her cheek. Zoe sighed in relief, smiling tiredly. He knew that she loved this, loved that they were saving people's lives, that they weren't mortal monsters like the Hunters were, but he knew she wished they didn't have to kill anyone at all.

* * *

"I know it's not five star but . . ." Dan trailed off, dumping his bag on the bed and watching Zoe as she looked around the hotel room. In truth, the hotel they'd picked was very far from five star. It was shabby at best, but having grown up in SKUL, Zoe didn't mind. She'd slept in much worse conditions.

Zoe raked her hand through her hair and sat on the bed, looking up at him with her auburn hair falling across her right eye. "It's fine."

Dan watched her for a moment. She always got quiet like this after they killed, once the adrenaline had worn off. He knew that she knew that they were doing a good thing – using their past to help other people. Over the past couple of years they'd helped more young vampires tame their Thirst than either of them dared to count, but that didn't mean Zoe enjoyed killing the ones that were beyond help. Dan watched as Zoe ducked her head, letting her hair shift so that it cast a shadow across her pretty face as she wrung her hands together in her lap, chewing on her lip.

"Hey," Dan said softly, sitting on the bed beside her. Zoe raised her head, green eyes following his movements as he sunk down onto the mattress next to her. She reached up with one hand to push her messy red hair out of her eyes as she turned her head so that she could see him. His blue eyes were clear, open with love and compassion as he reached up to brush his hand across her jaw gently. "You alright?"

Zoe shook her head, swallowing, and Dan wrapped an arm around her, drawing her into his embrace. Zoe curled her legs underneath her as she tucked her head underneath his chin. She shivered involuntarily as his fingers brushed against her shoulder gently, where the tattoo of a cross sat, the blank ink dark against her fair skin. They'd learned from an ex-Hunter that if you got a tattoo of a cross made in part with Holy water, the Holy water permanently infused itself with your blood. As a result, your blood became the most vile substance imaginable to vampires.

"That used to be us," Zoe murmured into his shirt, closing her eyes. "We used to be hunted. And now – "

Dan grabbed her chin and made her look at him. "We weren't killing people."

Zoe averted her eyes, tilting her head so that her forehead rested against his. "I did."

"Hey," Dan said fiercely, grabbing her face and making her look at him. "You weren't you, okay? You were someone else and you didn't know what you were doing." When her expression didn't change, he sighed quietly and brushed his hand across her jaw. "I'll tell you what. We can walk away from this, you and me. We can go buy a house and get normal jobs and just . . . be normal. For once. What do you think?"

She considered this for a moment and then she nodded, smiling a little. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay," she confirmed, smiling wider now, and he grinned at her as she pulled him towards her, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to pull him against her. She gasped as in one swift movement, he shoved the bag off the bed, pulled her against him and laid back so that she was leaning over him as his mouth worked against hers. He could feel her laughing and Dan let his head fall back against the pillows, smiling as she climbed off him, lying down beside him. He heard her sigh softly in content as he wrapped his arm around her, and Zoe rested her head against his shoulder. She fell asleep like that, content to just be with him. The past four years had been amazing, but it had to come to an end sometime. She was happy – and excited – to be starting to new life, a_ normal life _with Dan.


End file.
